WED 5 NOV -- Freshly dug mass graves have been discovered in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher, where tens of thousands of civilians have been slaughtered over the past 10 days.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who captured the city on October 26th, appear to be conducting systematic body disposal, with mass graves being dug in trenches and pits, according to the latest report by The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL).
"This appears consistent with RSF conducting clean-up of their alleged mass atrocities," the report said.
Satellite imagery shows evidence of mass graves, particularly at the former Children’s Hospital (now an RSF detention site) where mass killings are likely ongoing, according to the report, and which observed disturbed earth and objects consistent with human bodies on 1, 2 and 3 November.
Another mass grave was identified at a mosque in Daraja Oula - just 200 meters from Al-Saudi Hospital where some 460 people reportedly had been killed.
Large transport vehicles, possibly involved in moving bodies or looted goods, were identified in Daraja Oula - the neighbourhood housing the majority of civilians - in addition to other civilian neighborhoods in El-Fasher.
Prior to the RSF’s takeover, individuated burial activity were seen that are "consistent with respectful burial practices by communities that are honoring their own dead." This is not the case at the mass graves identified in the report.
And Yale HRL is clear that it cannot provide estimates for the number of bodies via satellite analysis: "Yale HRL does not make assessments related to whether the number of individuated burial mounds equates to a number of dead persons, and the same principle applies to mass graves, where bodies can be piled on top of each other in pit trenches and or layered on top of each other in slit trenches," the report says.
It also identifies a checkpoint on the road to Tawila. Civilians fleeing El-Fasher have reported being detained, extorted, or attacked by RSF forces. Though around 260,000 people lived in El-Fasher, only a few thousand have successfully reached safety in Tawilah.
ENDS
Testimonies from those who fled El Fasher, in the form of voice notes and transcribed text, are available upon request.
The recording of Monday's press conference with survivors from El Fasher is here.
Contact: sudan@avaaz.org for more information or interview requests.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is building an earthen wall around El Fasher to create a “kill box” and prevent civilians fleeing the besieged city, satellite imagery suggests.
People caught trying to smuggle food into the besieged city of El Fasher are being “executed on sight” by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to one civilian.
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