The civil war in Sudan has been raging since April last year and has caused enormous suffering to millions of people. The HRW report, which came out on Thursday morning, shows that soldiers in the warring armies have mistreated and executed prisoners of war, and mutilated their dead bodies. The soldiers have filmed themselves while doing this. – The perpetrators feel immune from punishment, says Rabin Taylor, one of the researchers behind the report, to news. HRW believes that what the armies are doing in Sudan is a war crime. The civil war in Sudan The people of Sudan took to the streets in 2019 and rebelled against the defunct regime. Among other things, they protested against inflation and the tripling of bread prices. Outrage led to President Omar al-Bashir being deposed by a military junta. An agreement was made between the protest movement and the military junta, and a transitional government was formed. For a short period the people were filled with hope. But the transitional government was deposed by a military coup. The military coup was a collaboration between the government army SAF and the paramilitary force RSF. On 15 April 20232, however, the two military forces began to fight against each other. Both militaries have been prominent players in the country, the RSF in the west and the SAF in the east, and both want to be in power. None of the forces have particular support among the people, but the RSF has been the most violent in the battles, and is seen as the worst alternative. Several groups and militias have joined the two armies. Minors abused on film Taylor is one of several researchers who work in the department for crisis, conflict and weapons at HRW. The department works to document human rights violations in conflicts. The researchers have verified and analyzed more than 20 such videos that have been shared on social media over the past year. Eight videos and one picture show four different executions of at least 40 people. Several of them are mass executions. Four videos show the torture and ill-treatment of a total of 18 prisoners of war, some of whom appear to be wounded. Nine videos show the mutilation of at least eight dead bodies One of the videos shows several well-grown, armed men from the government army ordering three young men to the ground. These young men, who HRW believes may be minors, are dressed in civilian clothes and have a white piece of cloth tied over their eyes. Then they get shot several times. Video analyzed by Human Rights Watch. Another video shows members of the RSF forcing prisoners to crawl on their knees on a dirt road, with their hands tied behind their backs. The soldiers call the prisoners “dogs” and beat them on the back with a stick. In all the videos, the prisoners appear to be unarmed and unable to pose any threat to their captors, according to Taylor. news has not carried out an independent verification of these videos. Happening all over the country – What really stands out to me is the volume of videos of executions and torture that exist out there, says Taylor. He believes that the perpetrators feel confident that they will never end up in a courtroom. HRW is now urging the parties to allow the UN’s fact-finding mission in Sudan to treat the actions as war crimes. Robin Taylor is a researcher at Human Rights Watch. He is one of those who have looked through, verified and analyzed the videos showing the RSF and the government army mistreating and executing prisoners. Photo: HRW / sebastian andrea wirsching Executions without trial, so-called summary executions, are illegal according to international law. The same applies to ill-treatment and torture of prisoners. The incidents have occurred in Darfur, West Kordofan, Omdurman and Khartoum, i.e. spread over the whole of Sudan. Terrorists with sexual violence According to the UN, the armies use hunger, thirst and sexual violence to terrorize the people of Sudan. In addition, several hundred cases of cholera have been registered in the country in recent weeks, after heavy rain spread infection in the drinking water, according to the Sudanese Minister of Health Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim. The streets in the city of Omdurman are a mess. Here the citizens are caught in the crossfire between the RSF and the government army. Photo: Staff / Reuters Trucks with emergency aid are ready at the borders, but do not let the armies in. In addition, the armies are actively cracking down on emergency aid organized by locals in the country. In August, several countries are involved in negotiations on an armistice agreement between the two armies, which has been arranged in Switzerland. The government army did not show up there. Nevertheless, the two parties promised to create passages for emergency aid into the country. – This war is so horrific and exhausting that one sees this really meager progress as a kind of hope, said Sudan researcher Liv Tønnessen at Christian Michelsen’s institute about the news. Published 29/08/2024, at 21.17
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Filming mass murder and torture – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
