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Africa Horn

The Janjaweed Rebranded: Why international community's calls to RSF fall on deaf ears?

2024-07-18

[SUDANTRIBUNE] Fifteen months of the RSF militia’s war against the Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
ese people, and the associated unprecedented atrocities have so far met inadequate response from the international community.

True, the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2736,13 June 2024, which demands the RSF end its siege of El-Fasher is significant. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
it falls short of unequivocally condemning the Militia for its brutal crimes.

Between April and December 2023, the RSF and its affiliated militias were responsible for the deaths of 10,000 to 15,000 civilians in West Darfur, according to a Panel of Independent Experts assigned by the Security Council. The U.S. State Department determined in December 2023 that the RSF committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of ethnic cleansing reminiscent of genocide. A bipartisan draft resolution in the US Congress also recognized these actions as genocide.

On June 5th 2024, another carnage took place in Wad-al-Nora village, al-Gazirah state. Around 270 villagers were slaughtered.

Despite global outrage over these crimes, in many aspects, the international community’s response appears slow, and insufficient and amounts to apathy.

APATHY ENCOURAGES IMPUNITY
The result is continued and unchecked ethnic cleansing and killings by the Militia in different parts of the country. The latest UN resolution and international condemnations essentially call for the RSF to behave themselves. This soft approach mistakenly assumes the Militia possesses a level of morality, legitimacy or discipline. The RAF’s response to the resolution; a major attack on El-Fasher, demonstrates its disregard for international diplomacy.

SHORT MEMORY?
Historically, the Janjaweed were globally known for their brutality in the Darfur conflict, with their crimes leading to the International Criminal Court’s involvement in 2005. Yet, certain Western quarters seem to have forgotten that the RSF is essentially an upgraded version of the Janjaweed, as the Enough Project puts it. Various international publications equally recall that the RSF evolved from the Janjaweed, infamous for ethnic cleansing and genocide. Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, explains "The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias".

Nevertheless, the leader of the Janjaweed, Hemetti, has been elevated to an international figure, receiving calls from the UN Secretary-General and the US Secretary of State, given a red carpet reception by a pro-West East African president, and even invited to an IGAD summit. This occurs even as the RSF militia continues its atrocities now spanning, beside Darfur, al-Gazirah, Greater Kordofan, Khartoum, and Sennar states, fully backed by its wealthy regional sponsor, the UAE, which supplies advanced weaponry, mercenaries, finance, and extensive PR and propaganda networks.

Thus, compared to its response to the Janjaweed crimes during the Darfur conflict 2003-2009, the international community seems this time indifferent towards their renewed atrocities, though the current victims constitute almost half of the Sudanese population.

CHANGING CONTEXT
Hemetti’s rise to the post of Deputy President of the Sovereign Council occurred during an extremely difficult transitional period following the ousting of the former regime by a popular uprising. As the nation emerged from multiple conflicts and with a view to minimizing any resistance to the change that would exacerbate the already precarious situation, the RSF had to be accommodated, along with the very armed struggle movements whom it had been fighting on behalf of the former regime. It was envisaged then that such arrangements would usher the country into a new dispensation based on a broader national accord. Accordingly, RSF was supposed to be integrated into the national army, SAF, after being reformed and rehabilitated, under the supervision of the latter. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
meddling in the process from both external powers and local politicians aborted this effort, strengthening the RSF instead. Thanks to its regional sponsor and appropriation of the bigger part of the country’s gold wealth, the Militia now boasts advanced weaponry, significant economic control, and a PR network. Sudan was a few steps away from joining the list of Middle Eastern countries that are effectively run by militias.

With the heavy losses in manpower it suffered early in the war, the Militia has reverted to its Janjaweed origins, especially after the termination of SAF officer secondments and voluntary demobilizations within the RSF. Hemetti was removed from his post in May 2023, and the RSF was disbanded by the SAF Commander in September 2023. Therefore, it is Janjaweed unmasked who are now fighting the Sudanese people.

Posted by:Fred

#5 This? https://martinplaut.com/2024/07/18/eepa-situation-report-horn-of-africa-no-561-18-july-2024/

Posted by: trailing wife 2024-07-18 22:53

#4 Just one resource: Africa
AFRICA, HORN OF AFRICA
EEPA Situation Report, Horn of Africa, No. 561 – 18 July 2024
Date: 18/07/2024
Author: Martin Plaut
Situation in Sudan (per 18 July)
The Ombadda Block 5 neighbourhood in Omdurman is completely uninhabitable due to no remaining services, functional markets, hospitals, or medical centres. Widespread waste and decomposing corpses make the neighbourhood unsanitary.
Representatives from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) travelled to Geneva for “indirect talks” under auspices of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, focusing on humanitarian aid, safe humanitarian corridors and civilian protection.
Lamamra met separately with representatives from each side, however, a direct meeting between the two Sudanese parties has not been scheduled.
800,000 people are trapped in El Fasher, North Darfur, without food, water or access to medical services, said the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO warned of looming famine and hunger and need for a sustainable plan for delivery of humanitarian and relief supplies.
Hunger and acute lack of food is one of the main reasons for Sudanese refugees to flee the country. “They said it’s not insecurity, it’s not lack of access to basic services, but because we have nothing to eat there,” said Dr Shible Sahbani, WHO Representative to Sudan.
One third of wounded persons of Sudan’s conflict had been women and children under the age of 10, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Sennar city has been cut off from access to food and fuel by RSF. Flour and rice are fully sold out at the markets and grain mills cannot produce new flour due to the lack of electricity, confirmed resistance committees in Sennar.

Posted by: AB 2024-07-18 13:13

#3 If you have better English-language sources, AB — or are willing to provide translations, like badanov does for his Ukrainian and Russian sources — please submit articles from them. By design Rantburg is limited to open source information in our attempt since 9/11 to figure out what’s going on in the War on Terror (plus other interesting stuff). But online news sites regularly appear and disappear, so we’re always interested in useful ones, not to mention posters willing to take on coverage of a key area of operation.

Submit your articles here: Post Your Own Article

Posted by: trailing wife 2024-07-18 12:08

#2 It would be nice if something other than Sudan Tribune articles appeared here. There is an ethnic struggle going on in the Sudan, with the various ethnicities choosing sides: pro-Arab, or anti-Arab. The Sudan Tribune has chosen the Arab side, Darfur and the western ethnicities have chosen otherwise. The cry has begun that starvation will cause tens of thousands of death in El Fasher, and one can expect the Sudan Tribune will continue to beat that drum in the hope of retaining the only Arab city left in western Sudan.

Posted by: AB 2024-07-18 08:10

#1 back in 2004 or so, the Janjaweed crimes in Dafar were big news

this was twinned with condemnation of the Bush Admin for not preventing it, various truce initiatives led to reducing the violence by about 2006

when Obama became Prez, the Janjaweed were basically out of the news

in 2020 a comprehensive agreement of sorts was signed but in the summer of 2021 renewed violence began and since 2022 there has basically been a civil war between factions of the military

Posted by: Lord Garth 2024-07-18 07:58

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