ALBAWABA - The head of the U.N.'s Sudan mission Volker Perthes said on Wednesday that the United Nations Joint Human Rights office has received credible reports about the existence of at least 13 mass graves in Sudan's El Geneina, a city in Darfur, and its surrounding areas.
Perthes told the U.N. Security Council that the victims of attacks on civilians by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias, most of whom were from the Masalit community, were buried in mass graves.
Perthes stated this during a speech in which he also announced his retirement as envoy: "UNITAMS and UN colleagues are documenting these violations and recall that these acts, if verified, may constitute war crimes".
"This conflict is leaving a tragic legacy of human rights abuses. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians committed by the warring parties constitute gross violations of human rights" Perthes added.
"Often indiscriminate aerial bombing is conducted by those who have an air force, which is the Sudan Armed Forces. Most of the sexual violence, lootings, and killings happen in areas controlled by the RSF and are conducted or tolerated by the RSF and their allies".
El Geneina, a city in West Darfur close to the border with Chad, has witnessed a sharp escalation in ethnically targeted violence since the war erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Perthes Resignation
More than three months after Sudan’s military-controlled government declared him unwelcome in the war-torn country, The United Nations special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes announced that he will be stepping down from his role as a special envoy.
"I am grateful to the secretary-general for that opportunity and for his confidence in me, but I have asked him to relieve me of this duty," Perthes told the Security Council. Then he went on to warn that "what started as a conflict between two military formations could be morphing into a full-blown civil war,".
"Often indiscriminate aerial bombing is conducted by those who have an air force, which is the SAF. Most of the sexual violence, lootings, and killings happen in areas controlled by the RSF and are conducted or tolerated by the RSF and their allies," he told the security council during his last council briefing.
