More than 1,000 civilians were killed in April when a Sudanese paramilitary group seized a camp for displaced people affected by famine in the Sudanese region Darfura third of whom were summarily executed, according to a report from the UN Human Rights Office on Thursday.
Months before the April 11-13 attack, the Rapid Support Force (RSF) blocked the entry of food and supplies into the Zamzam camp in Sudan’s western Darfur region, which housed nearly half a million people displaced by the civil war, the UN report said.
During the occupation, the RSF directed attacks on civilians, the Office reported, and survivors reported widespread killings, rapes, torture and abductions.
At least 319 were executed in the camp or while trying to escape.
– It is possible that such intentional killing of civilians or persons outside the combat constitutes a war crime of murder, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement on the 18-page report.
This data was obtained in interviews conducted in July of this year with 155 victims and witnesses who fled to Chad.
One of them testified that RSF fighters killed eight people who were hiding in a room in the camp, pointing their rifles through the window and shooting at them, according to the report, Hina reports.
RSF has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The group previously denied harming civilians and said it would hold its forces accountable for any crimes.
The attack in April was a precursor to the attack on the northern city of al-Fashir in late October, where RSF members are suspected of executing and kidnapping thousands of people.
Most of those believed to have lived in the city are missing.
(Vijesti.ba)
