Witnesses tell MEE that paramilitary fighters indiscriminately killed civilians in their hundreds as they closed in on the North Darfur state capital People who fled the Zamzam camp queue for food rations near the town of Taweela in Darfur, on 13 April 2025 (AFP) More than a million people in Sudan’s el-Fasher are pleading for protection after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advanced on the city, killing hundreds of people while on its way. Multiple sources in and around el-Fasher told Middle East Eye that the RSF is preparing to invade the city, which is the capital of North Darfur state and the only place in western Sudan still held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies. Ali Youssef al-Sharif, Sudan’s foreign minister, told MEE that the RSF’s offensive is intended to coincide with an international aid conference for Sudan held in London on Tuesday, and the paramilitary force will use its capture to declare a parallel government. Over the weekend, RSF fighters tore through camps outside el-Fasher hosting Sudanese who were displaced during the 2003-2005 genocide in Darfur. Eyewitnesses said hundreds of people were killed, including medics and aid workers, and much of the camps were burnt to the ground. The death toll from various areas of North Darfur is over 800 people, according to activists and officials. Fighters are preventing any aid from accessing the area. Sharif said the RSF intends to use the camps as bases to launch their attacks on el-Fasher. An RSF spokesperson denied its fighters targeted civilians. Bloody scenes The bloodiest scenes were witnessed in Zamzam, a camp just south of the city. Al-Sadig al-Nur, spokesman for a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement armed group that is headed by Darfur Governor Mini Minawi and fighting alongside SAF in el-Fasher, said at least 450 Zamzam residents were killed by the RSF. “This barbaric attack and ethnic cleansing have led to the displacement of thousands of people to el-Fasher city from Zamzam camp. They are living now under bad humanitarian conditions,” he said. The RSF grew out of the Janjaweed, Arab militias that, two decades ago, killed hundreds of thousands of Black African Sudanese in Darfur and displaced up to three million more. Nur, whose SLA fought against the Janjaweed at the time, said the RSF again aimed to “displace indigenous people and cause wide demographic change in Darfur”. Aid organisation Relief International said nine of its workers - the entire staff of the last medical clinic in Zamzam - were killed in the attack. Satellite images show widespread damage in the camp and raging fires. A satellite image shows smoke and fire in Zamzam camp, on 11 April 2025 (Maxar Technologies/Reuters) Similar scenes were witnessed in Abu Shoak, a camp to the north of el-Fasher. A coordinator for Darfur’s displaced Sudanese told MEE that nearly 30 people were killed by RSF shelling there. He said the RSF was targeting civilians and urged it to stop its attacks, cease exploiting the camps and using civilians as “human shields”. “The two warring parties have to distance themselves from the camps,” he said. Activists said at least 56 others were killed on Thursday and Friday in Um Kadadah, a town 180km to el-Fasher’s northeast. Crying out for help Sudanese who managed to escape the attack on Zamzam and Abu Shoak, as well as people already in el-Fasher, are calling on the international community and all Sudanese to support them. Mohamed Adam, a resident of Zamzam who fled to el-Fasher on Sunday evening, said the RSF had massacred people across the camp. “What I have seen is very brutal: they killed all the young men who are younger than 50 years old, they burnt the majority of the houses, they raped unknown numbers of women and intentionally displaced the people from the camp itself,” he told MEE. “They even killed dozens of children inside a Khalwa, where the Quran is taught, with no mercy at all. They verbally abused people, telling us: ‘you are our slave and we will kill and rule you. We will go to el-Fasher and liberate it from the mercenaries and Islamists’.” Since war broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese army on 15 April 2023, the paramilitary group has been accused of various violations, including massacres and sexual violence. In June 2023, RSF fighters and allied militiamen killed around 15,000 members of the Black African Masalit community in West Darfur’s el-Geneina. The United States has accused the RSF of genocide and sanctioned its leader, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti. Washington has also sanctioned SAF leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing the military of war crimes such as indiscriminate bombing and obstructing aid. The United Arab Emirates, the RSF's most significant backer, has been accused of complicity in genocide at the International Court of Justice. Adam Issa, 53, lives in el-Fasher’s south with his four children and several members of his extended family. He told MEE he’s planning to escape as soon as he can. “I’m afraid of the RSF attack. They will repeat what happened in el-Genena,” he told MEE, using the Starlink internet service. Issa said the RSF will seek revenge against civilians because many of them took up arms against the paramilitary group in response to its atrocities. “The city is very expensive, and there is a sharp lack of food and all basic needs - especially now thousands of people fled from Zamzam and Abu Shoak,” said another el-Fasher resident, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. Famine Even before the latest attacks, the humanitarian situation in North Darfur has been dire. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), eight areas of the state are experiencing famine, including Zamzam. It said 638,000 people in Sudan face catastrophic hunger, but the WFP’s work is obstructed by a lack of access and funding. Adam Rigal, a representative of Sudanese in Darfur’s displacement camps, said the situation in Abu Shoak and Zamzam is “very alarming”. “The ongoing shelling on Abu Shoak camp has led to the destruction of the health centres. Water supply has been cut. There are no shelters or food, and the aid organisations have been withdrawn. The children, women and families are stranded everywhere without shelters,” he said. “Thousands of other displaced people have also reached the Taweela area in North Darfur state, and they are in bad need of assistance.” Reinforcements absent The Rapid Support Forces has laid siege to el-Fasher and its environs for a year, with the army forced to air drop supplies to the city. Yet recently, fewer air drops have managed to get through. A SAF source stressed that the army is taking the issue of el-Fasher very seriously and won’t abandon the city to the RSF. He said in recent days the paramilitaries had downed SAF planes around el-Fasher, and this had made it extremely difficult to resupply the city and its defenders, though he insisted the problem would be resolved soon. The RSF says it shot down an Antonov cargo plane belonging to SAF. The Sudanese government, based in the SAF stronghold of Port Sudan, has accused  unnamed countries  of imposing an “air siege” on the North Darfur state capital.   The pause in supplies has not gone unnoticed. On social media, Sudanese have begun asking whether the SAF has abandoned el-Fasher. Activists and members of the Resistance Committees, grassroots pro-democracy groups, have accused the army of choosing not to defend the city. El-Fasher’s Resistance Committee said its members would continue fighting regardless of the military balance of power. “If we are really patriotic, where is our seriousness in defending el-Fasher? Why have we seen this silence while el-Fasher is under this brutal attack?” it said on Sunday. And Mini Minawi, who oversees a coalition of former Darfur rebel groups known as the Joint Forces, has urged SAF to break the siege as soon as possible. Nur, spokesman of Minawi’s wing of the SLM, said air strikes on RSF targets have stopped alongside the air drops. Nur said the Sudanese army massed a force in northern Sudan’s al-Dabab two months ago, but it had not been deployed to help el-Fasher. MEE could not independently confirm that the military was massing forces in al-Dabab. “SAF has to move quickly to save the lives of a million and a half people. We also urge all of Sudan to help in saving el-Fahser; we shouldn’t leave to fight alone,” he said. RSF advancing On Sunday, the RSF declared it had seized complete control of Zamzam. Abdul Rahim Dagalo, Hemeti’s brother and deputy, appeared in the camp and spoke about protecting civilian lives. A spokesperson for the paramilitary group said: “The RSF categorically rejects the false allegations that its members targeted civilians within Zamzam camp and calls for accuracy and reliability in the reporting and assessment of events.” The spokesperson claimed the Joint Forces and other SAF-aligned fighters used the camp as a military base, “deliberately exploiting innocent civilians as human shields”. 'Without urgent intervention, I expect SAF to withdraw'- Sudanese military expert According to a Sudanese military expert, the ground and air siege on el-Fasher will make it extremely hard for the SAF to relieve the city. “The RSF has controlled all directions leading to el-Fasher as they recently seized Um Kadada, al-Atron and Rahib al-Malha, among other areas,” said the expert, who asked for anonymity. “In addition to the downing of the SAF plane recently, this makes it very difficult for SAF to continue in el-Fasher and without urgent intervention, I expect SAF to withdraw.” However, two fighters in el-Fasher stressed to MEE that they won’t withdraw and will defend the city to the last moment. “We will die here to the person. This is our land, and we will defend it to the last breath in our bodies,” said one. - Daniel Hilton contributed to this story from London. Copyright © 2014 - 2025. Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

Mass grave containing some of 28,000 bodies of Masalit massacred by the RSF in El Geneina, Darfur, Sudan...credit Reuters The U.K.’s Failure to Recognize the Genocide in Sudan By Dr. Gregory Stanton Founding President Genocide Watch Conflicts between the Arab dominated Sudanese government and non-Arab ethnic groups have resulted in many genocides targeting non-Arab people in Sudan. Genocide became Sudanese state policy when the Arab supremacist Arab Gathering seized power in Khartoum in 1983. The Arab Gathering aimed to drive black African ethnic groups out of all fertile agricultural land and oil and gold producing regions of Sudan. Its ideology taught that civilization began with the people of the Nile. Blacks were naturally destined to be slaves. Determined to dominate all of Sudan, the Sudanese army and Arab militias have massacred hundreds of thousands of non-Arab people in the Nuba Mountains, Darfur, the Blue Nile, South Kordofan, Abyei, and South Sudan. Over   2.5 million  non-Arabs have been displaced since 1983. In 2003-2005, government-backed Janjaweed militias carried out systematic killings of non-Arabs and a scorched earth policy in Darfur. They were supported with bombing by the Sudanese Air Force. They forcibly displaced  Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa communities and murdered, looted, and mass raped non-Arab populations in Darfur.   Janjaweed militias and Sudanese Air Force bombing killed at least 300,000 non-Arab people and forcibly displaced 2.5 million . Social scientific studies by the US State Department led Secretary of State Powell and President Bush to declare that genocide was being committed in Darfur.   A joint UN-AU peacekeeping force, UNAMID ,  was established in 2007 with a mandate to protect civilians. However, UNAMID became an observer mission, rather than a peacekeeping force. It failed to protect the hundreds of thousands of people in Sudanese IDP camps from rapes and murders.   The Janjaweed militias were issued uniforms and became an official government force, renamed the "Rapid Support Forces" (RSF) commanded by General Hemedti, a top Arab warlord in the Darfur genocide. UN Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005)  of 31 March 2005 referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court   (ICC).  The ICC issued arrest warrants for Omar al-Bashir and other leaders of the Darfur genocide for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2009, and in 2010  for charges of genocide against al-Bashir. Al-Bashir contempuously appointed the accused criminals to be governors over the areas where they committed their crimes. Anti-government protests  began in late 2018 and a military coup ousted Omar al-Bashir in 2019. At the demand of the new Sudan junta, UNAMID withdrew in December 2020. Although a civilian-led democracy was promised following the military coup, another military coup followed in 2021 which removed civilians from government. Generals Burhan and Hemedti fought for power in Khartoum. The RSF took control in western Sudan, including Darfur. Fighting broke out between Hemedti’s RSF and Gen. Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on April 15, 2023. Since then, the SAF and the RSF have been engaged in a fierce battle for control of Sudan. Over 60,000 civilians  have been killed in the civil war, 1.5   million Sudanese have fled the country , and over 6.1 million  have been internally displaced. The massive influx of new refugees from Sudan has overwhelmed neighboring countries. Most countries including the US, Canada, and France have evacuated their diplomats . Uncertainty exists regarding the location of al-Bashir.  He may be secretly under the protection of General Burhan, al-Bashir's former army leader.   Hospitals have run out of supplies, and have been directly hit  by shells and gunfire. They lack electricity  and medicines.   War crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide Both the RSF and SAF are guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. They have deliberately and indiscriminately  attacked civilians and civilian and humanitarian infrastructure. In 2024, the UN-backed  Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan  and the  African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights-mandated Joint Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan  documented the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the RSF and SAF and called for the Security Council to expand the jurisdiction  of the ICC to cover all of Sudan. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed genocide against the ethnic Masalit people and other non-Arab groups in West Darfur. The RSF massacred at least 28,000 Masalit in the town of El Geneina alone in 2023. Tens of thousands  of civilians have been massacred by the RSF throughout Sudan. Women and girls, as young as one year old , have repeatedly been targeted for rape and sexual slavery by the RSF, often ethnically motivated . The RSF has destroyed 145 health facilities , depriving 65%  of the Darfuri population of basic health care, and continues to use famine as a weapon of war by blocking humanitarian assistance  from reaching IDP camps, such as the starvation-stricken Zamzam camp. The US on January 7, 2025 , declared that the RSF is violating the following articles of the Genocide Convention: Article II (a) : Killing members of the group, (b) : Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, (c) : Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, (d) : Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. Over 30 million people  in Sudan need humanitarian aid. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have aggravated the famine by barring all international and UN aid workers from Darfur in October 2024. The SAF and allied militias have massacred thousands of Sudanese. The RSF is continuing its attacks on the people of Darfur, especially the Masalit. In Darfur, the Rapid Support Forces have murdered well over 30,000 Masalit, raped thousands of women, and driven tens of thousands of Masalit into Chad. Masalit towns have been destroyed, their wells poisoned, their streets strewn with corpses. The RSF has surrounded El Fasher, a city of 2.5 million, capital of Darfur. In April 2025, the RSF massacred over one hundred people in El Fasher according to the UN.   In June 2024, the UN Security Council passed UN Security Council Resolution 2736  which called for a ceasefire, lifting of the RSF siege, and delivery of humanitarian aid to El Fasher. But it set no deadline for concluding a ceasefire, authorized no enforcement mission, ignored violations of the arms embargo on Darfur by the UAE, Russia, Turkey, and others, and failed to authorize arrests of generals and others charged by the ICC. Written by the UK, UNSC resolution 2736 is toothless.   The Alliance Against Genocide/IRF Genocide Working Group has drafted a UNSC resolution  to reestablish UNAMID with 10,000 troops and 715 police authorized to arrest persons indicted by the ICC. The draft resolution would: Declare the war in Sudan is a threat to international peace and security. Authorize a UN/AU Peacekeeping Force (PKO) under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Call on African Union countries to provide thousands of troops for the PKO. Make the PKO an ordinary expense of the UN, obligating all UN members to pay for it. Give the PKO the mandate is to protect civilians and end the civil war by diplomacy or force. Refer the situation in all of Sudan to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Give the PKO police authorization to arrest any persons charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide by the ICC.   The UK “holds the pen” for UN Security Council Resolutions on Sudan. No Security Council members have agreed to introduce a tough resolution like the Genocide Working Group draft resolution. Their excuse is that “the UK holds the pen.” Diplomatic niceties seem to outweigh the lives of people in Sudan.   The UK’s past failure to prevent genocide in Sudan. The UK has a history of failing to hold Sudan’s leadership to account for genocide and crimes against humanity. During the height of the first Darfur genocide in 2003-2006, the then UK ambassador William Patey effusively pledged the UK’s friendship  to an audience of Sudanese politicians and businessmen in Khartoum, despite al-Bashir’s genocidal campaign against black Africans being well under way across Darfur. In the 2010s, the appeasement of Sudan’s genocidists took the form of the UK government’s support for businesses closely connected to the al-Bashir regime. Today, the UK continues to prioritize commercial interests over its duty to prevent genocide in Sudan by refusing to sanction the UAE for funding and arming the RSF.   The UAE’s complicity in this genocide is well documented by UN experts, who reported in January 2024  that weapons and ammunitions shipments were being sent to the RSF by the UAE via Chad.   By maintaining economic ties with the UAE and refusing to follow the US’s lead in sanctioning RSF companies that operate there, the UK benefits from the genocide in Sudan.   The UK is failing to meet its obligations under the Genocide Convention.  The UK has stated that it will wait for the ICC to make a determination  of genocide in Sudan. However, the 1948 Genocide Convention states that governments, not courts, should regularly assess the risk of genocide and use “all means reasonably available”  to prevent it. The governments of Canada, the US, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands have all made declarations that genocide is underway in Sudan without any ICC determination . On the 28th of October 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated that only an appropriate court may deem a situation to constitute genocide, even when “millions of people have lost their lives” . This British approach to genocide recognition violates the Genocide Convention by failing to prevent genocide as required by Article One of the Convention and the opinion of the International Court of Justice in Bosnia v Serbia . UK sponsored resolutions on Sudan in the UN Security Council have all failed to call for the use of force to stop the genocide in Sudan. A UK resolution in December 2024 that only called for more humanitarian aid was even vetoed by Russia. The refusal by the UK to declare that genocide is occurring in Sudan is genocide denial.   So long as the UK refuses to declare that the massacres in Sudan constitute genocide, the UK’s words of condemnation are empty excuses for the UK’s refusal to support forceful collective action to stop this genocide.   Even if vetoed by Russia in the UNSC, the UN General Assembly could recommend collective action under the Uniting for Peace resolution.   Refusal to call the massacres in Sudan “genocide” emboldens the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces to kill with impunity.   Hindering prevention, the UK is enabling further genocide in Sudan. The UK’s support for the UAE makes the UK complicit in the Sudanese genocide.   When will the U.K. stop denying the genocide in Sudan?   When will the U.K. and African Union lead a collective intervention to stop it? Dr. Gregory Stanton is Founding President of Genocide Watch and Chair of the Alliance Against Genocide. He was a Research Professor in Genocide Studies at George Mason​ ​ University and was the James Farmer Professor in Human Rights at the University of Mary Washington. He founded the Cambodian Genocide Project in 1982. In the State Department, he drafted the UN Security Council Resolutions that established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He wrote the rules of procedure for the Khmer Rouge Tribuna​​l. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Pontius Pilate washes his hands: Matthew 27: 24 . credit - Business Day The UK’s Failure to Recognize Genocide   By Dr. Gregory Stanton Founding President Genocide Watch For years, the lawyers in the UK’s Foreign Office have refused to recognize mass killing as genocide until a court determines that genocide has occurred. This refusal to recognize genocide is legal malpractice. The Genocide Convention is named the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Nothing in the Genocide Convention requires that a court determine that genocide has been committed before government policy makers may use the term “genocide.” The International Court of Justice in Bosnia v Serbia   held that Serbia violated the Genocide Convention because it did not prevent the Srebrenica genocide. The ICJ also held that the duty to prevent is a “peremptory norm” that applies erga omnes (obliges all states.) Waiting for a court to declare genocide means violation of the duty to prevent genocide. Courts to try perpetrators of genocide are seldom created until a genocide is over. Waiting for a court to determine that genocide has been committed means that use of the term nearly always comes too late to prevent it. Courts have no special expertise in the law of genocide. Judges are not high priests endowed with the sacred duty to determine the commission of genocide. By making “genocide” a sacred term that can only be invoked by courts, the UK is surrendering its foreign policy to courts, and to the lawyers in the UK Foreign Office. UK Foreign Office lawyers’ refusal to use the word genocide until genocide is declared by a court means that the UK will nearly always violate its duty to prevent genocide. Genocide is a term defined by the binding law of an international treaty. Weaker terms like “ethnic cleansing” or “atrocities” are not prohibited by any international treaty. They are not even crimes under international law. They are terms used to avoid using the term genocide. Use of the term genocide as opposed to terms like crimes against humanity, “ethnic cleansing”, or “atrocities” has a significant effect on whether forceful action will be taken to prevent the crimes. See: Stanton, "Ethnic Cleansing" is a Euphemism Used for Genocide Denial . When a weaker term is used, it is a sign that there will be no forceful action to stop the mass killing. When the killings are called “genocide”, forceful military action to stop it is much more likely. See: Stanton, Weak Words Are Not Enough.  [See: Blum, Stanton, Sagi & Richter, “Ethnic cleansing” bleaches the atrocities of genocide . Genocide is a term that should be applicable in determination of foreign policy. If the term cannot be spoken, its power to define events and to determine policy is lost. Genocide is a term that should be available to political policy makers, not just to courts and Foreign Office lawyers. By ceding a monopoly on the term “genocide” to courts and Foreign Office lawyers, the UK Foreign Minister is handing them control over UK foreign policy. Foreign Office lawyers should be advising, rather than dictating, UK foreign policy. By refusing to use the term “genocide” because courts haven’t declared it, the UK Foreign Minister has become a genocide denier. Denial of genocide begins when genocide starts and may last for over a hundred years. Genocide denial is the most predictive early warning of further and future genocide. The UK’s failure to recognize genocide announces the UK’s Refusal to Prevent genocide as required by the Genocide Convention. It allows UK leaders to avoid their responsibility to align UK policy with international law. It provides the UK public with an excuse for non-action to protect lives of fellow human beings. It washes the hands of UK leaders from their duty to prevent genocide.   The UK must officially recognize and declare the massacres committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Sudanese people to be genocide.   The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is actively facilitating and benefiting from the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The UK is fully aware that their Gulf ally is supplying arms to the genocidal RSF. The UK must cease shielding the UAE from criticism and fulfill its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention. Imposing sanctions on the UAE is a necessary step, but it is by no means sufficient.   As the UN Security Council "penholder" on Sudan, the UK has a responsibility to take concrete, decisive action to end the suffering and genocide in Sudan. The UK must urgently call for the deployment of a UN/AU intervention force to protect civilians and restore stability.   The UK must support the establishment of a civilian administration in Sudan because neither the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) nor the RSF are fit to govern Sudan. The SAF’s track record as part of the Bashir regime demonstrates its opposition to a democratic and pluralist political system.   Dr. Gregory Stanton is Founding President of Genocide Watch  and Chair of the Alliance Against Genocide . He was a Research Professor in Genocide Studies at George Mason​ ​ University and was the James Farmer Professor in Human Rights at the University of Mary Washington. He founded the Cambodian Genocide Project in 1982. In the State Department, he drafted the UN Security Council Resolutions that established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He wrote the rules of procedure for the Khmer Rouge Tribuna​​l. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Port Sudan (Sudan) (AFP) – More than 100 people, including 20 children, are now feared dead in Sudan following paramilitary attacks on the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher and two nearby famine-hit camps, the United Nations said on Saturday. Displaced Sudanese women and children gather at a camp near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 11, 2025 © - / AFP The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the regular army since April 2023, launched "coordinated ground and aerial assaults" on Friday on El-Fasher and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. In recent weeks, the paramilitaries have stepped up their attacks on El-Fasher -- the only state capital in Darfur still outside their control -- after the army recaptured the national capital Khartoum last month. Early reports from the local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group in El-Fasher, put Friday's death toll at 57, with 32 civilians killed in El-Fasher and 25 in Zamzam. However, the army said Saturday that 74 civilians were killed and 17 wounded in El-Fasher alone. Activists said Friday the full extent of the damage in Zamzam remains unclear because of internet shutdowns and communications disruptions. The Sudanese Organisation for the Protection of Civilians said Saturday the dead included nine humanitarian workers operating a hospital in Zamzam, run by an international non-governmental organisation. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami condemned their deaths. "The colleagues from an international non-governmental organisation were killed while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still operational in the camp," she said in a statement. "This represents yet another deadly and unacceptable escalation in a series of brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan since the onset of this conflict nearly two years ago. "I strongly urge those committing such acts to immediately desist." In a statement on Saturday, the RSF dismissed a video purportedly shared by activists showing civilians killed in Zamzam. The paramilitary group condemned the footage as a fabricated production, labelling it a "desperate attempt to criminalise" its forces. El-Fasher is the largest city and capital of North Darfur © Omar KAMAL / AFP A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said the attack on Zamzam resumed on Saturday morning, with clashes and heavy gunfire heard for hours. The camp was the first part of Sudan where a UN-backed assessment declared famine last year. By December, famine had also spread to two nearby camps -- Abu Shouk and Al Salam -- and is expected to hit El-Fasher itself by May. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million since it broke out in April 2023. Both sides in the conflict have been accused of war crimes and breaches of international humanitarian law. © 2025 AFP

Sudan warns RSF could declare new government during London conference The foreign minister warned that the RSF could imminently 'declare Darfur and pockets of Sudan that they have as a new region' The foreign minister warned that the RSF could imminently 'declare Darfur and pockets of Sudan that they have as a new region' Sudan's foreign minister has warned that the paramilitary  Rapid Support Forces (RSF)  aims to announce a parallel government to coincide with the UK's conference on Sudan this week. Ali Yousssef al-Sharif slammed the British government for excluding the internationally recognised Khartoum government from the conference, which begins on Tuesday, and extending invitations to allies of the RSF. The summit in London will bring together foreign ministers from around the world in an attempt to end the war and address the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. Speaking to journalists at the Sudanese embassy in London, Sharif warned that the RSF plans to "announce a parallel government and declare Darfur and pockets of Sudan that they have as a new region" while the event in London is happening. He added: "I don't know if they'll declare independence." In late February, RSF officials signed a political charter in Kenya with political parties and armed groups saying that a parallel "Government of Peace and Unity" would be formed within weeks. Establishing a new government in RSF-controlled areas would challenge the government and threaten intensified conflict. Sudan's government, which is allied to the Sudanese army, has been at war with the RSF since April 2023. The RSF (Rapid Support Forces) is a militia that split off from the Sudanese military, turning against the country's government. Khartoum  accuses the paramilitary group and allied militias of perpetrating genocide, murder, theft, rape and forcible displacement. It says that these crimes were enabled by direct support from the UAE.  The army retains control over large swathes of territory in the east and north, while paramilitaries hold most of Darfur in the western half of the country and parts of the south. Khartoum exclusion Middle East Eye first  reported  on Khartoum’s exclusion from the London conference last month. The RSF is also excluded.  Foreign ministers from the  UAE , Chad and Kenya, three countries that are alleged to support the RSF, were handed invitations.  "Inviting the UAE doesn't correspond to the message that this conference is about peace," Sharif said on Monday. "We were briefed by the UK government that they have this conference which is humanitarian. We expected to be invited, it's about Sudan and the Sudanese people," he added. "Then we were told we were not going to be invited." The foreign minister said the government had made it clear to the UK Foreign Office "that in their attempts to play a role, they ignore dealing with the government of Sudan. This does not reflect the national will [in Sudan]." Khartoum’s foreign ministry said last week that the move by the UK equated Sudan’s government with the RSF, which it described as “a terrorist militia committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and unprecedented atrocities against civilians”. It added that the summit was the latest in several developments in the UK which showed “leniency” towards the RSF, including alleged  secret talks  between the UK and the RSF last year.  Al-Sharif noted on Monday that the previous Conservative government blocked a discussion at the UN Security Council on the UAE's role in the Sudan war in April last year.  Labour's Foreign Secretary David Lammy, he added, has not been to Sudan and has not met the Sundanese ambassador in London. Al-Sharif met Lammy at the Munich security conference in February. "We started a common dialogue with [the UK]. But I haven't seen that they've taken a strong position," he said. Al-Sharif told Lammy in a letter last week that the UAE’s participation in the conference “allows it to whitewash its image and conceal its complicity in acts of genocide in Sudan”.  The timing of the conference comes as the RSF  killed 56 civilians in a series of attacks on a town in Darfur along the road to the city of el-Fasher. Al-Sharif described Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia - also invited to the conference - as "very friendly" countries who will "support us and will reflect our positions". Sudan last Thursday accused the  United Arab Emirates  of complicity in genocide at a hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.  Last year an independent inquiry carried out by the  Raoul Wallenberg Centre  found that there is  “clear and convincing evidence”  that the RSF and its allied militias “have committed and are committing genocide against the Masalit”, a Black African group in the country.  Copyright © 2014 - 2025.%C2%A0Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

Christians in Mauritania fear for their lives after protests against them A view from a commercial street in Sélibaby, Mauritania. Wikimedia / Alexis Doucet By Edward Ross Authorities last week approved a demonstration by Muslims against the presence of Christians in a town of southern Mauritania that resulted in protesters exhuming the body of a Christian and dragging it through the streets, sources said. Christians in Sélibaby remain fearful following the April 7 demonstrations accompanied by threats on social media to burn down Christian-owned homes, according to advocacy group Middle East Concern (MEC). “Christians in Sélibaby have grave concerns for their safety and lives as the incitement of hate against them by prominent religious and community leaders continues,” a MEC press statement read. An Islamist mob went to a cemetery, broke the tombstone of the deceased Christian and exhumed his body, then dragged it in the streets before bringing it to a village far outside Sélibaby, where it was reburied at another site, according to MEC. “Tensions eased by evening, but social media posts describing Christians as infidels and apostates, urging ‘action’ against them, intensified the following day,” MEC stated. “They called for a total ostracism of Christians. Some of the leaders have been warned by their clans and relatives, not to contact them. The situation remains volatile.” Authorities on Tuesday (April 8) announced that security leaders in the area were fired following an investigation into the protests. Advocacy group Jubilee Campaign reported that videos promoting the desecration appeared on social media, along with screenshots of it on the main French-language news portal in Mauritania, CRIDEM, which “show the three to five main perpetrators of the exhumation dragging the body while the co-conspirators and onlookers crowd around to record.” Following the international outcry that resulted in the firing of security officials in Sélibaby, a human rights advocate in Mauritania, Cheikh Mkhaitir, said the action was insufficient, as authorities had not permitted the exhumed Christian’s body to be reburied in the same place. “He is reburied 30 kilometers from the city, far from a normal cemetery,” Mkhaitir said, according to Jubilee Campaign. “Mauritania is a country that is very dangerous for non-Muslims, even for the deceased.” Mkhaitir, who was sentenced to death for “apostasy” in 2014 for his activism and held in prison for six years before his sentence was commuted under international pressure, said U.N. members states must hold countries such as Mauritania accountable. “The countries that still practice laws of apostasy and blasphemy – in spite of the U.N. conventions that they signed – would not continue to violate the conventions unless they were sure that all those agreements and conventions are on paper only,” he said. “And, they will continue to be on paper only, and people will continue to suffer in prisons and even the gallows, unless some real mechanism pushes these countries to adhere to the conventions they have signed, irrespective of the country’s status in international economics.” Mauritania is among at least 11 countries with the death penalty for apostasy or blasphemy, though it has a moratorium in place on it, Jubilee Campaign noted. “It has not stopped them from sentencing Cheikh to death in 2014 and continues to use the law to threaten Christian converts and other non-Muslims with silence and eradication,” Jubilee Campaign stated. “Mauritania’s repeated cosmetic adjustments after pressure are evidence that the country desires acceptance on the world stage.” Several states have an interest in maintaining good relations with Mauritania, which exports iron, fish, oil, gold and copper to China as well as to Japan, Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and others, Jubilee stated. A delegation from NATO recently met with Mauritanian officials to discuss bilateral security and military cooperation, the group added. “The recent action in Sélibaby is a pressing example that piecemeal solutions are not enough,” Jubilee Campaign stated. “The death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy needs to be repealed completely for the recognition of the rights and protection of Christians, non-Muslims and all the citizens of Mauritania. Otherwise, we will return to another Sélibaby, another youth robbed of six years of his life and even an extrajudicial execution. Temporary security and trade deals are not worth the suffering of generations.” Mauritania’s 2018 Amendment to Penal Code Article 306 states that “any Muslim who explicitly apostatizes from Islam, or who says or does something that would require or include that, or who renounces what he knows to be required by the religion, shall be imprisoned for three days, during which time he will be asked to repent. If he does not repent, he will be sentenced to death for blasphemy, and his property will be transferred to the treasury of the Muslims.” Mauritania’s laws and legal procedures derive from a mix of French civil law and sharia (Islamic law), but there have been calls from the public for increased application of the country’s sharia-based criminal code, according to the State Department’s 2022 religious freedom report. “The law prohibits apostasy and blasphemy,” the report states. “The criminal code mandates a death sentence for any Muslim convicted of apostasy or blasphemy, but the government has never applied capital punishment for apostasy or blasphemy.” Faith-based Non-Governmental Organizations must refrain from proselytizing or otherwise promoting any religion other than Islam, and the government must pre-approve all group meetings, “including non-Islamic religious gatherings and those held in private homes,” according to the report. At the same time, non-Muslim religious leaders stated the government typically does not prevent such groups from holding religious gatherings in private spaces, the report notes. Possession of non-Islamic religious materials remained legal, although the government continued to prohibit their printing and distribution, it adds. Although Mauritania is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provides everyone the “freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief” of their choice, the government continued to ban any public expression of religion except that of Islam, according to the religious freedom report. “Authorized churches were able to conduct services within their premises but could not proselytize,” the report states. “An unofficial government requirement restricted non-Islamic worship to the few recognized Christian churches.” In late 2023 authorities arrested several Christians in the Sélibaby area after a video of a baptism ceremony prompted Muslims to call for their punishment. At least 15 and possibly as many as 18  Christians were arrested  along with their families, and by Dec. 18, 2023, they had all been released . At least three of the Christians were initially arrested on or shortly before Nov. 30, 2023 in Selibaby, more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of the capital city of Nouakchott, according to Spanish news service  EFE . The arrests stemmed from protests calling for Christians to be killed after a video of a baptism ceremony appeared in social media, according to Christian leaders in the region. Mauritania ranked 23rd on Open Doors 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Copyright ©2025 Christian Daily International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

People walk past debris at a site targeted by an Israeli air strike in Hawsh Tal Safiyeh near Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley on April 9, 2025 [-/AFP via Getty Images] The UN human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire came into effect last November, Reuters has reported. “Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians,” the spokesperson for the UN Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. At least 71 civilians — including 14 women and nine children — have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the start of the ceasefire. Around 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR. “We are calling for investigations into all allegations of violations… Each and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated,” said Al-Kheetan. “The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region.” © Ardi Associates Ltd 2009-2025. All Rights Reserved

Yang Tian & Ian Aikman BBC News Ukrainian woman laying down flowers. Source: Getty Imgaes Donald Trump has blamed Volodymyr Zelensky for starting the war with Russia – a day after a massive Russian attack killed 35 people and injured 117 others in Ukraine. The US president said the Ukrainian leader shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin for "millions of people dead" in the Ukraine war. "You don't start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles," he told reporters at the White House, also blaming former US President Joe Biden for the conflict. Trump's comments come after widespread outrage over Russia's attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, which was the deadliest Russian attack  on civilians this year. Asked about the attack earlier, Trump said it was "terrible" and that he had been told Russia had "made a mistake", but did not elaborate. "Millions of people dead because of three people," Trump said on Monday. "Let's say Putin number one, let's say Biden who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelensky." It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, but not millions, of people have been killed or injured on all sides since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Questioning Zelensky's competence, Trump remarked that the Ukrainian leader was "always looking to purchase missiles". "When you start a war, you got to know you can win," the US president said. Trump has repeatedly blamed Zelensky and Biden for the war, despite Russia invading Ukraine first in 2014, five years before Zelensky won the presidency, and then on a far broader scale in 2022. Trump further argued on Monday that "Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it. Everybody is to blame". Tensions between Trump and Zelensky have been high ever since their heated confrontation at the White House  in February. During that meeting, Trump accused Zelensky of "gambling with World War Three" and chided him for not starting peace talks with Russia earlier. By contrast, the US president has made efforts to improve relations with Moscow. Trump said he had a "great" phone call with Putin  last month, and the Russian president sent him a portrait as a gift  a week later. In February, Washington voted with Moscow against a UN resolution  that identified Russia as the "aggressor" in Russia's war against Ukraine. After talks between US and Russian officials failed to produce a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump said he was "very angry" with Putin , though he added he had a "good relationship" with the Russian leader. US envoy Steve Witkoff, who met Putin in St Petersburg for close to five hours on Friday, said the talks had been "compelling". He said the Russian leader's request had been to get "a permanent peace... beyond a ceasefire". The detailed discussions had included the future of five Ukrainian territories Russia is claiming to have annexed since it launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbour and "no Nato, Article 5" – referring to the Nato rule that says members will come to the defence of an ally that is under attack. "I think we might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large," Witkoff told Fox News on Monday. "There is a possibility to reshape the Russian-United states relationship through some very compelling commercial opportunities that I think give real stability to the region, too. Partnerships create stability," Trump's envoy said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was less effusive, describing the contacts as positive but with no clear outlines of an agreement. In an interview recorded before Russia's deadly attack on Sumy, Zelensky had urged Trump to visit Ukraine  before striking a deal with Putin to end the war. "Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead," Zelensky said in an interview for CBS's 60 Minutes programme. At least 35 people were killed when Russian forces fired two Iskander missiles into the heart of Sumy on Sunday. The blasts took place minutes apart while many civilians were heading to church for Palm Sunday, a week before Easter. A bus was destroyed in the attack and bodies were left strewn in the middle of a city street. Moscow claimed it had targeted a meeting of Ukrainian soldiers, killing 60 of them, but did not provide any evidence. Trump insisted he wanted to "stop the killing" and signalled there would be proposals soon, but did not elaborate. The conflict in Ukraine goes back more than a decade, to 2014, when Kyiv's pro-Russian president was overthrown. Russia then annexed Crimea and backed insurgents in bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine. Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.

Genocide survivor Jeanette Nyirabashyitsi, 45, a Tutsi, greets Fredrick Kazigwemo, a Hutu who was jailed for nine years for genocide, in the Reconcilation Village of Mbyo, in Nyamata, Rwanda, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) Rwanda Country Report April 2025 Three decades have passed since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi  in Rwanda. Rwanda has risen from the ashes of genocide to become an African success story. Rwanda boasts one of Africa's fastest-growing economies , a rebuilt infrastructure, and efficient institutions. The government has worked to restore social cohesion by improving healthcare and education and building Reconciliation Villages where victims and perpetrators of the 1994 genocide live and work together. Rwanda leads the world in gender equity, with the highest proportion of women in any legislative body . Despite this miraculous transformation, critics contend that the socio-economic growth and development have come at the expense of human rights . Freedom House  rates Rwanda as "not free," giving it a score of 23 out of 100. Human Rights Watch  reports that the Rwandan government routinely suppresses political dissent through extensive surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary detention, and even alleged assassinations of political opponents. Reporters Without Borders  ranks Rwanda 144 out of 180, describing its media landscape as one of the poorest in Africa. Historically, genocide has thrived in environments where democracy has failed . Amnesty International  and others have documented how anti-genocide laws have been used by the Rwandan government to silence the opposition and to curtail press and personal freedoms. Laws against “divisionism” and “genocidal ideology” have been used to suppress dissent and even to settle personal disputes through fear of false accusations. World Without Genocide  contends that laws against genocide denial may suppress free speech about past genocide and hinder national reconciliation.   In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), anti-Tutsi sentiment  has risen against Congolese Tutsis, such as the Hema and Banyamulenge. It mirrors the “Invader vs. Indigenous citizen” hate speech that promoted the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In 2023, a mob in the DRC lynched a Congolese Banyamulenge soldier because he was a Tutsi . Human Rights Watch has documented numerous attacks against individuals perceived as Tutsi or “Rwandan.” Former UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng , warned of an escalation in hate speech targeting Congolese Tutsis and those presumed to be of Rwandan descent. Statutes outlawing genocide denial are aimed at former perpetrators and their sympathizers who falsify or minimize the genocide of 1994. But the laws result in an absence of open discussion about the genocide. Many survivors believe that justice is incomplete because some notorious perpetrators remain free. Timely justice is vital  because many perpetrators have died before trial. Others are too old or ill to stand trial. Combating genocide denial is essential for holding perpetrators accountable and for preventing future genocides. But laws should not cripple discussion for reconciliation. With rising anti-Tutsi sentiment in the DRC and military reprisals by M23 and the Rwandan Army, and persistent genocide denial among Hutu Rwandans, Genocide Watch considers Rwanda to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 10: Denial.   Genocide Watch recommends to Rwanda’s government: Support reconciliation villages where victims and perpetrators of the 1994 genocide live together. Encourage discussions in churches about the 1994 genocide to promote reconciliation. Build and support the Isoko Peace Institute in Rwanda to develop anti-genocide school curricula. Clarify vague anti-genocide laws so they cannot be misused to suppress freedom of speech. Outlaw hate speech and incitement to genocide without outlawing freedom of expression. Engage with the Congolese government to answer anti-Tutsi hate speech and attacks in DRC. Develop joint military operations with DRC to hunt down and arrest killers and rapists in DRC. Support justice for survivors by holding perpetrators accountable in Rwandan and DRC courts.

In Rwandan reconciliation villages, hope for forgiveness Associated Press April 6, 2024   By  RODNEY MUHUMUZA and IGNATIUS SSUUNA   Anastasie Nyirabashyitsi with baskets she wove in Mybo Reconciliation Village, Rwanda (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) BUGESERA, Rwanda (AP) — Anastasie Nyirabashyitsi and Jeanette Mukabyagaju think of each other as dear friends. The women’s friendship was cemented one day in 2007, when Mukabyagaju, going somewhere, left a child behind for Nyirabashyitsi to look after. This expression of trust stunned Nyirabashyitsi because Mukabyagaju, a Tutsi survivor who lost most of her family in  the Rwandan genocide,  was leaving a child in the hands of a Hutu woman for the first time since they had known each other. “If she can ask me to keep her child, it’s because she trusts me,” Nyirabashyitsi said recently, describing her feelings at the time. “A woman, when it comes to her children, when someone trusts you with (her) children, it’s because she really does.” It wasn’t always like that. Nyirabashyitsi and Mukabyagaju are both witnesses to terrible crimes. But, in the government-approved reconciliation village where they have lived for 19 years, they have reached peaceful coexistence from opposite experiences. Nyirabashyitsi, 54, recalled the helpless Tutsis she saw at roadblocks not far from the present reconciliation village, people she knew faced imminent death when the Hutu soldiers and militiamen started systematically killing their Tutsi neighbors  on the night of April 6, 1994. The killings were ignited when a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down over Kigali. The Tutsi were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president.  An estimated 800,000 Tutsis were killed  by extremist Hutus in massacres that lasted over 100 days in 1994. Some moderate Hutus who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also targeted. One victim was a woman who had been a godmother to her child, and later she saw the woman’s body dumped in a ditch, Nyirabashyitsi remembers. “It was so horrible, and it was even shameful to be able see that,” she said. “For sure, we had no hope of living. We thought that we would also be killed. How could you see that and then think you will be alive at some point?” As for Mukabyagaju, she was a 16-year-old temporarily staying in the southern province of Muhanga while her parents lived in Kigali. When she couldn’t shelter at the nearest Catholic parish, she hid in a latrine for two months, without anything to eat and drinking from trenches, until she was rescued by Tutsi rebels who stopped the genocide. “I hated Hutu so much to the point that I could not agree to meet them,” she said, adding that it took a long time “to be able even think that I can interact with a Hutu.” The women are neighbors in a community of genocide perpetrators and survivors 40 kilometers (24 miles) outside the Rwandan capital of Kigali. At least 382 people live in Mbyo Reconciliation Village, which some Rwandans cite as an example of how people can peacefully coexist  30 years after the genocide. More than half the residents of this reconciliation village are women, and their projects — which include a basket-weaving cooperative as well as a money saving program — have united so many of them that it can seem offensive to inquire into who is Hutu and who is Tutsi. Women survivors weave grass and thread bowls in Mybo reconciliation village in Nyamata, Rwanda (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) An official with Prison Fellowship Rwanda, a Kigali-based civic group that’s in charge of the village, said the women foster a climate of tolerance because of the hands-on activities in which they engage regularly. “There’s a model we have here which we call practical reconciliation,” said Christian Bizimana, a program coordinator with Prison Fellowship Rwanda. “Whenever they are weaving baskets, they can engage more, talk more, go into the details. We believe that by doing that ... forgiveness is deepened, unity is deepened.” In Rwanda, a small East African country of 14 million people, women leaders have long been seen as a pillar of reconciliation, and Rwandans can now “see the benefits” of empowering women to fight the ideology behind genocide, said Yolande Mukagasana, a prominent writer and genocide survivor. Two of three members of Mbyo Reconciliation Village’s dispute-resolution committee are women, and they have been helpful in resolving conflicts ranging from domestic disputes to communal disagreements, residents say. The women’s activities set an example for children and “promote the visibility of what really this village is like in terms of practical unity and reconciliation,” said Frederick Kazigwemo, a leader in the village who was jailed nine years on charges of genocide-related crimes. He said of the friendship between Nyirabashyitsi and Mukabyagaju: “It pleases my heart. It’s something that I could have never imagined. ... It gives me hope (for) what will happen in future.” Eighteen women are actively involved in basket weaving, meeting as a group at least once a week. Nyirabashyitsi and Mukabyagaju sat next to each other one recent morning as they made new baskets. A collection of their work was displayed on a mat nearby. “When we came here the environment was clouded by suspicion. It wasn’t easy to trust one another,” Nyirabashyitsi said. “For example, it wasn’t easy for me to go to Jeanette’s house, because I had no idea what she was thinking about me. But after time, the more we lived together, that harmony and that closeness came.” The women told The Associated Press in separate interviews that, for them and others in the village, ethnic badges no longer apply. Nyirabashyitsi and Mukabyagaju were among the first people to arrive in the village when it was launched in 2005 as part of wider reconciliation efforts by Prison Fellowship Rwanda. The organization, which is affiliated with the Washington-based Prison Fellowship International, wanted to create opportunities for genocide survivors to heal in conditions where they can regularly talk to perpetrators. There are at least eight other reconciliation villages across Rwanda. President Paul Kagame’s rebel group, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, stopped the genocide after 100 days, seized power and has since ruled Rwanda unchallenged. Rwandan authorities have heavily promoted national unity among the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi and Twa, with a separate government ministry dedicated to reconciliation efforts. The government has imposed a tough penal code to prosecute those it suspects of denying the genocide or promoting the “genocide ideology.” Some observers say the law has been used to silence critics who question the government. Rwandan ID cards no longer identify a person by ethnicity. Lessons about the genocide are part of the curriculum in schools. Newly discovered skulls and bones of those who sought refuge in a Catholic church were laid out on the floor as a memorial to the thousands who were killed during the 1994 genocide.(AP Photo/Brian Inganga)   Mbyo Reconciliation Village, which is near a Catholic parish that openly displays human remains from the 1994 killings, is structured like an ordinary Rwandan village: tin-roofed houses set in small plots adjacent to farmland. Children play in the dirt compound. Women go about their household chores. Mukabyagaju insisted that she now relates to Nyirabashyitsi and the other women in their village as if they were her sisters. For her, she said, the ethnic labels are meaningless. “I don’t see them as Hutu,” she said. ___ Ssuuna reported from Kigali, Rwanda. Copyright 2024 Associated Press Skip Ad

Monasteries, often sheltering many of the country’s displaced people, have increasingly come under attack. By RFA Burmese 2025.04.15 An airstrike in Mandalay region’s Kyundaunt village in Natogyi township on April 14, 2025, destroyed a monastery. (Natogyi Journal) Junta airstrikes during Myanmar’s New Year celebrations have killed five civilians and injured 26 others, including several monks, according to residents who spoke with Radio Free Asia. The attacks, which took place on Sunday and Monday, targeted monasteries at the start of Thingyan – Myanmar’s traditional New Year festival, a time of deep cultural, spiritual, and social importance for the Burmese people. Despite ceasefire announcements by both the junta and various resistance groups – some aligned with the exiled National Unity Government – fighting has continued. Rebel forces have claimed gains in new territories, prompting retaliatory airstrikes from the military, often resulting in heavy civilian casualties. Monasteries, which have become shelters for many of the country’s displaced people, have increasingly come under attack, drawing condemnation for the targeting of religious sites. In Sagaing region’s Kani township, for instance, junta’s aerial attack around 8 a.m on Monday targeted a monastery where people were due to arrive for the holiday, one resident said. “Of the novice monks in Tha Min Chan village, two died and two were critically injured,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons. “Because the bomb fell a bit early, it was only the monks in the monastery – those who came to make merit and perform duties for the monks had not arrived yet.” Another woman was critically injured when bombs fell on a nearby village, the Kani resident added. Separately, Indaw township, which was captured in part by the National Unity Government’s militia, faced additional attacks around 11 a.m. on Monday, residents said. The attack injured two people. On Sunday, junta attacks also hit monasteries in three townships in Sagaing region – Taze, Wuntho and Kawlin – killing one woman and injuring seven people, including a monk, according to the residents. In a separate attack in Kyauktaw township, Rakhine state, three civilians were wounded: 10-year-old Chit Hnin Wai, 27-year-old Kyi Kyi Win and 34-year-old Oo Than May, the residents added. In Mandalay region’s Natogyi township, airstrikes around six on Monday targeting another monastery injured three more monks, including a child, residents told RFA. In Thabeikkyin township, attacks on Sunday killed a man and a woman and injured eight others, said a member of the Pyinoolwin People’s Defense Force, one of the rebel groups. “Around 10:21 p.m., they dropped four bombs on Chaung Gyi village that were around 200 or 300 pounds each,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons. Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun has not responded to RFA’s request for comment. Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang. © 2025 Radio Free Asia

A UN humanitarian officer inspects a destroyed building in Ukraine. © UNOCHA/Nelia Zablotska-Siennikov 14 April 2025 I  Peace and Security        The United Nations has condemned the Russian attack on the city of Sumy, Ukraine, on Sunday which reportedly killed at least 34 people, including two children, and injured more than 100 others. The two missiles struck a busy street in the city centre, damaging residential buildings, an educational facility and civilian vehicles, as people were out celebrating Palm Sunday, a major religious holiday in Ukraine. UN Secretary-General António Guterres  was deeply alarmed and shocked to learn of the attack his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in  a statement . Devastating pattern of assaults “The attack, on Palm Sunday and at the start of Holy Week, continues a devastating pattern of similar assaults on Ukrainian cities and towns in recent weeks, resulting in civilian casualties and large-scale destruction,” he said. The Secretary-General underlined that attacks against civilians and civilian objects are prohibited under international humanitarian law and must end immediately. Mr. Guterres renewed his call for a durable ceasefire in Ukraine. He also reiterated the UN’s support to meaningful efforts towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace that fully upholds the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, in line with the UN Charter , international law, and relevant UN resolutions. Senior aid official ‘utterly appalled’ The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, was “utterly appalled” by the Russian missile strike on the heart of Sumy city, which is located in northeastern Ukraine. “Palm Sunday is meant to be a day of peace and reflection. Instead, people in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine have been subjected to violence, terror, and loss,” he  said . The missile hit a busy street in the city centre, damaging residential buildings, an educational facility, and civilian vehicles — including a public bus. “On behalf of the humanitarian community and the United Nations country team, I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and express my deeply felt condolences with the families whose lives have been torn apart,” said Mr. Schmale. He recalled that international humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, stressing that “those rules exist to protect human life and dignity — and they must be respected at all times.” © 2025 United Nations.