What happens next?
UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Nderitu told Sky News she agreed with residents who say the genocide has had a greater impact on their communities today than it did 20 years ago.
“Weapons are more sophisticated than they were 20 years ago. On the other hand, we have satellite imagery and mobile phones, so we can receive information about what’s happening on the ground.”
Yousif, 32, who fled Kutum to a refugee camp in eastern Chad, also draws comparisons to Darfur’s past.
“In 2003, when the rebels were fighting the army, they didn’t go near civilian homes. People still lived in the towns and stayed in military-controlled areas,” he said. “But this time, the rebels will defeat the army and then come for the civilians.”
“If you have a car, they’ll take it. They’ll take anything in your house. If you have pretty sisters, they’ll rape them.”
An independent UN international fact-finding mission found sufficient grounds to believe that the RSF and allied militias committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape, on the basis of ethnicity and gender.
Mass displacement and rising deaths from armed violence, disease and hunger have made the war one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The United States estimates that about 150,000 people have died.
In December 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the RSF and allied militias had engaged in ethnic cleansing in Darfur but stopped short of calling it genocide.
Ahmed Soliman, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, told Sky News he believed a campaign of ethnic cleansing had been underway since the conflict began.
As for whether it could be genocide, he said it was “difficult” to call, and experts said there were signs, but a determination of genocide would need to be made by the International Criminal Court.
“There have been genocides in Darfur in the past, but I don’t really distinguish between ethnic cleansing and genocide. I think one leads to the other, and there’s a worrying pattern in that regard.”Ahmed Soliman, Senior Fellow at Chatham House
But this time, the urgency and outrage from the international community is missing.
“Why aren’t people paying attention to what’s going on?” asks UN Special Adviser Alice Nderitu.
“Without breaking the cycle of impunity, we will not be able to address the root causes of violence and rebuild a solid foundation for the future.”
*Name has been changed.