Darfur Follow-ups: Adere Chad
Refugees who fled from Ardmata to Chad revealed atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces after they took control of the 15th Division, El Geneina, on Saturday, as the initial death toll in Ardamata reached more than two hundred people.
A refugee who preferred to withhold his name for security reasons revealed that eight members of his family were killed, and more than 20 of them were missing. He pointed out that a large number of Ardamata citizens were arrested and taken to unknown areas.
Killing and ambushes of those fleeing
He said that the Rapid Support Forces set up ambushes for those fleeing to Chad and killed large numbers of them, and that the forces stormed all the homes in Ardamata, separated the women from the men, and killed most of the men, especially the young men.
While Arab tribal leaders publicly denied their participation in ethnic cleansing operations in El Geneina, the Rapid Support Forces said earlier that they did not participate in what they described as a “tribal conflict.”
Nurse Nabeel Maxia said: The attack on the army base in Ardamta began early last week, and was accompanied by the Rapid Support bombing of some homes in a camp for internally displaced people, adding that he crossed into Chad after the Rapid Support Forces arrested him on the border and paid money for his release.
He explained that he saw the Rapid Support Forces killing civilians with fire during raids on the Ardamta camp, and that they forced the men to stand in rows before executing them.
asylum seekers in Chad.
He confirmed that thousands of civilians , most of them women, children and the elderly, have arrived in Adre, Chad, since the Rapid Support Forces took control of the division on Saturday. He explained that most of them arrived in tragic conditions and without shoes.
He pointed out that most of the women fled the camp and the area, along with other neighborhoods adjacent to Division 15. He said that the refugees received help from the refugees who preceded them in Adre, pointing out that the wounded were transferred to the hospital run by Doctors Without Borders.
He warned that the siege of the Ardamata camp has continued since last Friday, and that the fate of those remaining in the camp is unknown.
Retaliation attack
He described what happened in ardamata as a retaliatory attack because most of the region’s residents were families of the division’s soldiers, stressing that there was no discrimination between the region’s residents on an ethnic basis.
He said that the killing of Al-Forsha Omer Arbab, his son Abu Bakr, and eight members of his family on Saturday was due to his speaking out against the truth, and that he refused to leave El-Geneina after the previous attack and settled in Ardamta. He was alerted to the killing of his brother-in-law and someone belonging to other tribes.
He stressed the difficulty of obtaining information about the siege of ardamata, and that the information is being leaked by private parties related to rapid support, along with a number of young people who fled to Chad.
Details of the army’s withdrawal to Chad
For his part, a soldier who fled the Ardamata base said that a drone attack destroyed the defensive systems at the base early on Friday, adding that the military commanders had left the base by Saturday morning.
The soldier, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that when he arrived at the border with Chad, he pretended to be a civilian and denied that he was a Masalit in order to pass, adding that members of the Rapid Support border guard forces took another man after they found on his phone a picture of him in military uniform.
As Sudanese army forces withdrew from the base, community leaders in Ardamata collected the weapons they were using to defend themselves in an attempt to secure safe passage for civilians, according to Maxia and Sharaf al-Deen Adam, another civilian refugee who arrived in Chad.
A refugee confirmed the arrival of eight military vehicles in Adre, loaded with soldiers and military equipment, in addition to the arrival of 25 other vehicles in the Klayit area, which is located north of Adre on the border with Kulbus. He pointed out that the forces had handed over their weapons and military equipment to the Chadian authorities, and he did not rule out that the withdrawal took place as a result of a deal. Pointing out that the forces of the armed struggle movements that were fighting alongside the army were not notified of the withdrawal, describing their fate as unknown.
He said that the army withdrew from El Geneina to Kulbus and was later forced to withdraw to Chad after civil authorities sent messages to the leaders of the Kulbus garrison threatening to attack if the army did not leave the garrison.
Beating, insulting and eliminating
Regarding the video clips circulating in which a number of individuals are being beaten and insulted in Ardamata, the refugee said that most of them were displaced people from the Ardamata camp who were arrested from the camp, beaten and insulted, with expressions of a racist nature. He pointed to another video of young men from the camp who were arrested in an ambush northeast of the airport. El Geneina while fleeing to Chad, indicating that their fate is unknown amid reports of their liquidation.
He said that the Rapid Support Forces are in complete control of El Geneina, noting the return of some individuals. He said that communications are working in the city normally, but the shops in the market have not fully opened.
Photographs also showed bodies scattered in the open air.
International calls to protect civilians
The International Organization for Migration indicated that the conflict in Sudan led to a major humanitarian crisis and the displacement of more than six million, adding that more than 500,000 people crossed the border into Chad, most of them from West Darfur.
For its part, Doctors Without Borders explained that the number of refugees who arrived in Chad rose significantly in the first three days of November to reach 7,000 refugees, noting that most of the refugees were women and children, many of whom spoke of widespread violence against civilians.
In turn, the border guard forces in Chad reported that the daily number of people fleeing West Darfur rose to 3,146 on Saturday, while United Nations officials in Chad said that thousands more were expected to cross the border, but the Rapid Support Forces prevented them from doing so and asked them for money in exchange for their crossing.
For his part, Toby Harrod, Deputy United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, described the reports and images coming from the city of Ardamata as horrific, and stressed that the reports include assassinations, grave violations, and massacres against civilians following the Rapid Support’s control of the region. He stressed that those who have authority must respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians. Ensuring the rule of law and providing unrestricted humanitarian access to vulnerable people.
The Rapid Support attack on the headquarters of the 15th Division in El Geneina since last week led to the displacement of a large number of citizens of the Ardamta region and neighboring neighborhoods to other neighborhoods, where some of them sleep in mosques and in the open, while the flow of refugees into Chad continued, rising to three thousand refugees daily.
On Saturday, the second commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Abdel Raheem Dagalo, directed his forces to protect citizens. He also appointed Abdel Rahman Jumaa, who is subject to US sanctions due to accusations related to the killing of the former governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abkar, as commander of the 15th El Geneina Division.
Citizens of El Geneina indicated a partial return to the Zain and Sudani communication networks, while the Internet operates using satellite networks or the Chadian network.
They pointed out the partial opening of shops in the Grand Market, Um Dowain Market, and the Zariba Market.
They confirmed the capture of a number of officers and soldiers of the armed forces from the division and the loss of some of them. On the other hand, on Sunday, two Emirati aid planes arrived in the Chadian city of Um Jars carrying 19 tons of aid for Sudanese refugees and the local community in Chad.
