Sudan: War crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks – new report

Civilians killed in crossfire

Men, women and children have been caught in crossfire as both sides, often using explosive weapons with wide area effects, have launched frequent attacks in densely populated civilian neighbourhoods.

Fighting began in the Kalakla neighbourhood in southern Khartoum on 20 April. Kodi Abbas, a 55-year-old teacher, told Amnesty International that two of his sons, Hassan, six, and Ibrahim, eight, and his nephew Koko, seven, were killed as they tried to escape gunfire.

He said: “My wife and my children ran away from home when clashes broke out in our neighbourhood… but my two youngest boys… were small and couldn’t run away fast enough… I don’t know who shot them. The war killed them.”

Amnesty International has not been able to ascertain which side fired the shots that killed the three boys.

Ala’ Fawzi al-Mardi, a 26-year-old doctor, was killed in her home in Omdurman’s Hay al-Manara neighbourhood on 15 April, the day clashes first erupted.

That one single bullet destroyed our family in the space of a few seconds…

Fawzi al-Mardi, whose daughter Ala’ was killed at home in Omdurman

Fawzi al-Mardi, her father, told Amnesty International that his wife was also seriously wounded. He said: “That morning we woke up to hell. The sound of shooting and bombing was everywhere, relentless… I was worried about my daughter Ala’ who had gone to work at the hospital.

“A few minutes after she had arrived home, a bullet came through the living room window, and it hit my wife in the face. It went through the right side of her face and neck, and then it hit Ala’ in the chest, killing her instantly. That one single bullet destroyed our family in the space of a few seconds… As soon as [Ala’] arrived home, where she should have been safe, death came to our home.” 

Many civilians told Amnesty International they had been injured and their relatives killed where they sought safety. On 6 June, repeated strikes with ground-launched projectiles in West Darfur killed and injured dozens of civilians in and around the El Geneina University female dorms, where many people were sheltering after fleeing fighting in their neighbourhoods.

Deliberate targeting of civilians

Civilians have been deliberately killed or injured in targeted attacks. Survivors and other witnesses generally identified RSF members as the perpetrators.

On 13 May, RSF members broke into the Mar Girgis (St George’s) Coptic Church complex in the Bahri area of Khartoum. Several witnesses said they shot five members of the clergy, and stole money and a gold cross. 

On 14 May, Dr. Adam Zakaria Is’haq, a 38-year-old medical doctor and human rights defender, was killed along with 13 patients at the Markaz Inqadh al-Tibbi (Medical Rescue Centre), a health clinic in the Jamarik neighourhood of El Geneina. Two of the doctor’s colleagues told Amnesty International that armed Arab militia members shot the 14 victims. 

One said: “Dr. Adam… was treating sick people at a small clinic when he was killed, because the main hospital in El Geneina was destroyed by the same armed militia and RSF in late April. He was shot in the chest. He left behind his wife and two young boys, aged four and six.”