Bombed and Burned: Darfuri Civilians Flee East Jebel Marra En Masse
Posted by Enough Team on Mar 27, 2014
This report originally appeared on the Satellite Sentinel Project.
New Satellite Sentinel Project imagery provides independent
confirmation of Sudan Air Force, or SAF, bombardments in the mountainous
Jebel Marra area of North Darfur, where civilians have been bombed for
years.The use of indiscriminate aerial bombardment in densely populated
areas like East Jebel Marra constitutes a war crime under international
law.With these images, showing at least 17 bomb craters across six
villages, SSP has confirmed the government’s long-standing practice of
indiscriminately dropping bombs that devastate civilians living in the
area solely because it is currently controlled by rebel forces.
Ground attacks led by reconstituted Janjaweed forces are
exacerbating the impact of the government’s aerial bombardment campaign.
DigitalGlobe Intelligence Solutions’ (DGIS3) analysis of satellite
imagery found evidence of both air strikes and ground attacks—some in
the same location.
Villages burned in Janjaweed attacks
As SAF air strikes escalate, Sudanese government-backed Janjaweed
militias are also burning and destroying villages in the area at a
magnitude not seen since 2003. SSP imagery from March 21, 2014 shows
more than 311 huts burned in six villages in East Jebel Marra.
DGIS found approximately 95 burned huts in the south-central
section of Dolma, a small village approximately 63 kilometers southwest
of the North Darfur capital of Al Fashir. The huts were burned between
February 5 and March 21, 2014.
Some 6,000 government-backed Janjaweed fighters called the Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) or Rapid Response Force (RRF) are attacking
civilians and torching homes throughout the area.Adding a deadly new
dimension to the violent attacks in Darfur, North Darfur’s political
power struggles for control of the state are pitting armed militias
against one another as intercommunal clashes also erupt.
According to eyewitness reports from March 16-20,7 the paramilitary
RSF, a newly reconstituted Janjaweed force backed by the Sudanese
government, are conducting vicious ground attacks as SAF conducts heavy
airstrikes in this area.
Striking among the damage visible from the sky, approximately 126
huts were torched in Hemeda, a town located two kilometers south of
Dolma and 65 kilometers southwest of Al Fashir. A comparison of imagery
between February 5 and March 21 shows that most damage was concentrated
in the village center.
Before moving into North Kordofan and Darfur, the RSF had led
attacks for the Sudanese government on rebels in South Kordofan10 and
Blue Nile states. In late February RSF attacked more than 35 towns in
South Darfur, killing and raping civilians as they torched homes.11 RSF
attacks across North Darfur have destroyed 16 villages west of Mellit
town and 25 towns north of Kutum.
Approximately 20 huts were destroyed in the western part of Unjara,
located approximately 51 kilometers west-southwest of Al Fashir.
Humanitarian organizations estimate 215,000 people are newly displaced
across Darfur since the beginning of the year, with 146,000 people
displaced from North Darfur areas. Some 35,000 newly displaced families,
mostly children and women without food and water, are reportedly moving
east toward the North Darfur capital of Al Fashir after fleeing
villages burned to the ground near the town of Tawila.
Elsewhere, the RSF ambushed and destroyed a camp for internally
displaced people in South Darfur on March 22, burning to death a sheikh,
abducting local leaders, destroying water sources, and torching homes
and a hospital. The attack has displaced thousands of people, including
many into North Darfur.
