war crimes – FoRB in Full

A year of conflict in Sudan – the international community must act now

Posted on 11/04/202418/04/2024 by cswpress in Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan

This week marks one year since war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the culmination of tensions and contradictions that have existed between the two groups since they seized power from the transitional government in October 2021.

What has been unusual about this war is that it started in the capital, Khartoum, and spread throughout the country. Since Sudan gained independence in 1956, conflicts and even revolutions have originated outside of the capital, which has often led to the insulation of communities in the centre, and arguably the north, of Sudan from the worst ramifications of the instability. Today however, few places in the country have been spared the large-scale hostilities between the two groups, and its impact on civilians has been catastrophic.

As the conflict enters its second year, it has claimed the lives of at least 13,000 people, and more than 33,000 have been injured. With the war intensifying in populated cities, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has risen to more than nine million, and the number of those facing hunger is now estimated to be as high as 20 million. In addition, there are over two million refugees, half of them Darfuri, also facing hunger. Tragically, for the second time in 20 years, there are also credible reports of atrocity crimes, with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) noting that the situation now in Darfur is worse than when the Security Council referred Sudan to the court.

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The Episcopal/Evangelical Church in Omdurman, which was shelled on 1 November 2023.

No se debe permitir que Sudán quede fuera de la agenda internacional

Posted on 14/11/2023 by cswpress in español, Sub-Saharan Africa ES, Sudan ES

“La tierra es valiosa y será más fácil apoderarse de ella si los edificios han sido destruidos por la guerra”.

Esta fue la reacción de una fuente de CSW ante el bombardeo de iglesias y propiedades en Omdurman y Jartum El-Shajara en Sudán a principios de mes.

El 1 de noviembre, las Fuerzas Armadas Sudanesas bombardearon y destruyeron por completo una iglesia utilizada por las denominaciones episcopal y evangélica en Omdurman. Era la iglesia más grande y la segunda más antigua de la zona, y su destrucción se produjo apenas tres semanas después de que también fueran bombardeadas la Escuela Comercial Evangélica y la Escuela Secundaria Evangélica.

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Sudan must not be allowed to slip off the international agenda

Posted on 07/11/2023 by cswpress in Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan

‘The land is valuable, and it will be easier to seize it if the buildings have been destroyed by war.’

This was the reaction of a CSW source to the bombing of churches and properties in Omdurman and Khartoum El-Shajara in Sudan at the start of the month.

On 1 November the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) shelled and completely destroyed a church that was used by the Episcopal and Evangelical denominations in Omdurman. It was the largest and second oldest church in the area, and its destruction came just three weeks after the Evangelical Commercial School and the Evangelical Secondary School were also bombed.

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European External Action Service Headquarters in Brussels.

The Myanmar junta should have no place at the ASEAN-EU Human Rights Dialogue

Posted on 03/10/2023 by cswpress in Asia, Burma, European Union, International Arenas

Last week, soldiers of the Myanmar/Burma military reportedly beheaded three men in Pale Township in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. Two of them were civilians, and the third a member of a People’s Defense Force in Nyaunggon Village.

A witness told The Irrawaddy news website that the men had been killed as they returned to their village on 27 September, thinking that the junta troops who had occupied it for the past two and half weeks had left. One man’s head was hung on a fence, another placed on a chair, and the third ‘had his abdomen cut open, intestines taken out, limbs cut off and [then] put into his abdomen.’

The same day, at least 19 children and their teacher were injured when the regime shelled a monastic school in Wuntho Towsnhip, also in the Sagaing Region. Most were aged between five and eight, and seven of them were critically wounded.

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365 days and counting: The international community still needs to end the suffering of Tigray

Posted on 04/11/202104/11/2021 by cswpress in Eritrea, Sub-Saharan Africa

On 4 November 2020 Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) forces in response to an attack on a federal army base which the Tigrayan authorities described as pre-emptive. Troops from Eritrea and Somalia joined the ENDF in launching a pincer movement against the Tigrayans, and communications to the region were cut and remain disrupted to this day.

The attack marked the beginning of a conflict which is still ongoing, one in which over 52,000 people have died, and an estimated 1.7 million have been displaced internally. One year on and the crisis in Tigray is showing no signs of coming to an end, with Prime Minister Abiy pledging to “bury this enemy with our blood and bones and make the glory of Ethiopia high again” in a statement on 3 November – hardly the words expected from a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Along with the Eritrean leader, PM Abiy and his government are responsible for a horrific campaign of violence against the people of Tigray which a joint inve s tigation by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) recently found may have involved war crimes and crimes against humanity, a finding they attribute to both sides of the conflict.

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