SUDAN ARMED FORCES ETHNICALLY TARGETING SOUTH SUDANESE

Reports are surfacing of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) ethnically targeting South Sudanese with k*llings, torture and harassment following the SAF recapturing Wad Madani in Al Jazirah state from UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF).

South Sudanese are enraged and call for immediate accountability. The scenes depicted are not only horrific but are also a painful reminder of the systemic racism and discrimination South Sudanese communities faced in Sudan, leading to the country’s independence in 2011.

In other reports earlier this week, rights groups also accused the SAF of ethnically targeting indigenous Sudanese civilians, klling 13 people, including two children, in Wad Madani. SAF issued a statement on 14 January, calling these incidents ‘individual violations.’ And, in December 2024, an SAF airstrike on a Darfur market injured many civilians and klled over 100.

SAF violence is not a new phenomenon. For decades, indigenous communities from the Nuba Mountains to Darfur, as well as South Sudanese before the secession, have endured it.

Civil societies and rights groups have called for accountability for both warring parties throughout the duration of the proxy war that began on 15 April 2023. They continue to reiterate that SAF is Islamist-led and an extension of the former National Congress Party that oppressed Sudanese and has kept Sudan in vicious cycles of war.

Sources:

https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/juba-summons-sudan-envoy-over-wad-madani-atrocities

https://sudantribune.com/article296100/#google_vignette

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/10/airstrike-north-darfur-market-kills-people-sudan

https://www.barrons.com/news/sudan-army-denies-involvement-in-al-jazira-state-civilian-assaults-8c38dc92?refsec=topics_afp-news 

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudanese-army-says-advancing-key-rsf-held-capital-al-jazira-state 

https://x.com/african_stream/status/1869404365674467526?s=46