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STORY: OHCHR / SUDAN HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 03:06
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 NOVEMBER 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exteriors, UN sign, flags
17 NOVEMBER 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR):
“We are extremely alarmed by reports that Rapid Support Forces and their allied Arab militia killed hundreds of ethnic Masalit civilians in Ardamata town earlier this month, in yet another ethnically motivated mass attack on non-Arab Masalit civilians in West Darfur in just a few months.”
4. Wide shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Preliminary information we have obtained from survivors and witnesses suggests Masalit civilians suffered six days of terror at the hands of the RSF and its allied militia after they took control of the Sudanese army’s base in Ardamata on 4 November.”
6. Wide shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Some of the victims were summarily executed or burnt alive. Many of those killed were young Masalit men and relatives of Sudanese soldiers remaining in Ardamata, after the troops fled the town. Women and girls were reportedly subjected to sexual violence in the Ardamata IDP camp and in some homes. Thousands have been displaced, some crossing the border to Chad.”
8. Wide shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR):
“On 5 November alone, 66 Masalit men were summarily executed in three separate incidents. In Al-Kabri district, men were separated from women and killed. Hundreds more men were arrested and taken to various RSF-run detention camps. Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The Ardamata attack is the second reported mass attack by the RSF and its allied Arab militia against Masalit civilians in a matter of months. Between May and June 2023, hundreds of Masalit men, women, and children – including the governor of West Darfur – were killed. Many of them were buried in mass graves while the bodies of others were left in the streets. Such attacks may constitute crimes under international law.”
12. Various shots, briefing room
The UN Human Rights Office is extremely alarmed by reports that Rapid Support Forces and their allied Arab militia killed hundreds of ethnic Masalit civilians in Ardamata town earlier this month, in yet another ethnically motivated mass attack on non-Arab Masalit civilians in West Darfur in just a few months.
“We are extremely alarmed by reports that Rapid Support Forces and their allied Arab militia killed hundreds of ethnic Masalit civilians in Ardamata town earlier this month, in yet another ethnically motivated mass attack on non-Arab Masalit civilians in West Darfur in just a few months,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
“Preliminary information we have obtained from survivors and witnesses suggests Masalit civilians suffered six days of terror at the hands of the RSF and its allied militia after they took control of the Sudanese army’s base in Ardamata on 4 November,” said Laurence.
“Some of the victims were summarily executed or burnt alive. Many of those killed were young Masalit men and relatives of Sudanese soldiers remaining in Ardamata, after the troops fled the town. Women and girls were reportedly subjected to sexual violence in the Ardamata IDP camp and in some homes. Thousands have been displaced, some crossing the border to Chad,” he said.
"On 5 November alone, 66 Masalit men were summarily executed in three separate incidents. In Al-Kabri district, men were separated from women and killed. Hundreds more men were arrested and taken to various RSF-run detention camps. Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown," Laurence highlighted.
“The Ardamata attack is the second reported mass attack by the RSF and its allied Arab militia against Masalit civilians in a matter of months. Between May and June 2023, hundreds of Masalit men, women, and children – including the governor of West Darfur – were killed. Many of them were buried in mass graves while the bodies of others were left in the streets. Such attacks may constitute crimes under international law,”the spokesperson said.
All violations must stop immediatel, and those responsible must be brought to justice following thorough, independent and impartial investigations, Laurence stressed.
Amid worrying reports of an imminent RSF assault on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, the UN Human Rights Office reminds the RSF and all other parties to the conflict to respect their international humanitarian law obligations to ensure protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
