In a report released Tuesday, the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) announced it has confirmed through analysis of remote sensing and open-source data that at least nine communities west of El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur region of Sudan, have been razed by apparent arson attacks between March 31 and April 15, 2024.
Yale HRL’s findings corroborate multiple media and other open-source reports alleging that these villages were attacked by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and aligned forces.
A copy of the full report is available on the Humanitarian Research Lab’s website.
Since April 15, 2023, the RSF and aligned forces continue to commit widespread, systematic, and targeted attacks on civilian communities across Darfur, specifically targeting Black African Masalit, Fur, Zaghawa, and other communities, the authors of the report said.
El-Fasher is the last remaining stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Darfur and home to at least two million civilians and Internally Displaced Persons in and around the city, many of whom fled earlier RSF and aligned force violence. With the RSF controlling the roads and regions surrounding the city, it is likely that civilians will be trapped and unable to flee.
Yale Humanitarian Research Lab’s work on Sudan is made possible through the generous support of the Avaaz Foundation.