Corpses of hundreds of women, men and children scattered through the streets full of flies, schools ransacked and villages reduced to rubble. The conflict in Sudan has reached terrifying heights, according to the testimony of humanitarian workers and the United Nations, which on Thursday presented evidence of the discovery of a mass grave with at least 87 victims in the Darfur region.
A team from the NGO Save the Children who fled from Al Geneina reported that in his journey he has seen “the corpses of hundreds of people, including children, abandoned along the road, covered in flies”, in what they describe as “summary executions against civilians”. The road between Al Geneina and the border with Chad, one of the escape routes for those displaced by the conflict, has become a route to death in which witnesses paint in their descriptions “a terrifying picture of children, men and Women killed by the dozens, with armed men entering villages, looting and burning houses and shooting fleeing residents.”
Ahmed, a worker for this NGO in Western Darfur, escaped from the violence of the armed groups in Al Geneina and took refuge in Kassala. He sent this chilling testimony to the headquarters: “We spent 49 days locked up because the snipers did not stop outside. Our only desire was to get up at dawn to get a can of water before the fighting started again. When we finally managed to get out there were corpses everywhere on the soil of the city of Geneina. There were thousands of men, women and children, no one was saved. There are flies everywhere.”
His story continues: “Community leaders estimate that more than 5,000 people have been killed. Four more schools have been looted and burned to the ground in Geneina. There are no civilians left, only soldiers; all the others have fled or died. The road was very difficult. We encountered dozens of checkpoints on the way. The bus driver had to pay more than one million Sudanese pounds ($1,660) to get us through.” Ahmed is now in a safe area with the rest of the team and his family. “The only thing I can think of is that people need urgent help right now,” he laments.
Save the Children puts the spotlight on the numerous summary executions of civilians that are taking place on the road from Al Geneina to the border. It reports reports of an attack in which 20 minors were massacred in a village in the area. In another town, Human Rights Watch documented in May the killing of 40 civilians, including women and children: “Surviving minors witnessed the brutal killings and militants looted and burned most of the town, forcing residents to flee to Chad.” These dramatic attacks have restricted the access of humanitarian aid to the area.