AILSA CHANG, HOST:
After more than 500 days under siege, the Sudanese army's last stronghold in Darfur, the city of El Fasher, has fallen to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. The RSF has previously been accused of genocide by the U.S., and as Kate Bartlett reports, there have already been reports of atrocities and ethnic cleansing since they overran the city on Sunday.
KATE BARTLETT, BYLINE: The RSF has been celebrating a major battlefield victory.
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UNIDENTIFIED RSF SOLDIER #1: (Non-English language spoken).
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BARTLETT: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the Sudanese Armed Forces, admitted government troops had left the city after their base was overrun by the paramilitary.
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ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: After 2 1/2 years of civil war, the RSF and allied Arab militias now control all of Darfur, the remote western region where their forebearers, the Janjaweed, perpetrated a genocide against mainly African ethnic groups some two decades ago. Now there are well-founded fears that history is about to repeat itself.
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UNIDENTIFIED RSF SOLDIER #2: (Non-English language spoken).
BARTLETT: Videos already circulating amongst monitoring and human rights groups, which NPR cannot independently verify, show grinning militia men shooting detainees and chasing fleeing civilians while shouting racial slurs.
KHOLOOD KHAIR: What this points to is that the genocide that we saw 20 years ago is actually still continuing.
BARTLETT: Kholood Khair, a Sudanese analyst, says there's potential for more violence this time round. It's already started.
SHAYNA LEWIS: Satellite imagery shows us that the RSF is going house to house in some neighborhoods of El Fasher in cleansing operations, and expert analysts think that they can see the bloodstains from space.
BARTLETT: Shayna Lewis is Sudan specialist with advocacy group Avaaz. She says early estimates indicate at least 1,000 civilians have already been killed.
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MOHAMED DUDA: I appreciate your efforts to update the news about El Fasher.
BARTLETT: One of these was Mohamed Duda, a spokesperson for the Zamzam displacement camp near El Fasher who survived an attack on the camp by the RSF in April where they slaughtered hundreds. He's spoken to NPR before and was in touch as recently as last week.
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DUDA: I'm so glad to be in touch with you. I will share with you every day news update if you want.
BARTLETT: Now he's dead. RSF fighters, blatantly unconcerned about chances of future prosecution, frequently film their crimes and post them on the internet, Lewis says.
LEWIS: Residents of El Fasher who previously left the city are finding out about the deaths of their loved ones through footage of executions that are widely circulating on social media.
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BARTLETT: The war over which side gets to run the resource-rich nation that sits at the vital crossroads between the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea has killed tens of thousands and displaced 14 million. Both sides have been accused of atrocities, but it has not been happening in a vacuum. There are multiple international players involved. The United Arab Emirates is accused of backing the RSF, something the UAE denies.
CAMERON HUDSON: This victory for the RSF allows it to consolidate total control over one-third of the country, all of Darfur.
BARTLETT: The taking of El Fasher will only give it more leverage, says Cameron Hudson, former special envoy to Sudan.
HUDSON: That will bolster its claims that it's a government and demand greater and better treatment for itself at any future negotiating table.
BARTLETT: With the latest RSF gain, there's a possibility the country could split not just in half, but into numerous territories. In the meantime, the RSF appears intent on pursuing a scorched-earth policy in El Fasher, a city of some 250,000 people, with the real extent of the atrocities likely only to become clear in the weeks ahead.
For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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