A Genocidal Army is About to Win the War in Darfur and No One Seems to Be Paying Attention

In every conquered city, a massacre followed

Credit: Satellite image from November 7 showing active fires and burned structures in Ardamata camp. Image © 2023 Planet Labs PBC. Analysis and graphics. © 2023 Human Rights Watch.

The Rapid Support Forces are on the march.

This is the mostly ethnic-Arab paramilitary group which grew out of the Janjwaweed militia that perpetrated the Darfur genocide 20 years ago. Since April, the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been fighting a civil war for control of Sudan. At present, the RSF controls much of Khartoum, the capital. The Sudanese Armed Forces control the major seaside city, Port Sudan, in the east of the country.

To the west in Darfur, the RSF clearly has the upper hand and are now poised to take control of the entire region. And it is here where the patterns of the 2003 Darfur genocide are being repeated today.

Nearly 450,000 people have fled across the border to Chad. These refugees are mostly from the non-Arab Massalit tribe that has been systematically targeted by the RS…