"We are surrounded. Will there be another attack? I don't sleep at night. So far, no humanitarian organization has reached us," said Sheikh Mohammed Kari. From an IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp in the Sudanese town of Kreinik, Sheikh Mohammed Kari, one of the villagers' representatives, called for help after four days of violence that left at least 213 people dead.
In this area, located 80 kilometers east of Geneina (the capital of West Darfur), tensions increased on Thursday, April 21, after two Arab nomads from the Riziegat tribe were murdered in their sleep. The next day, in retaliation, a first attack by Arab militias targeted the village of Kreinik, mainly populated by the Massalit. Nine people were killed and 16 wounded. On Sunday, from sunrise to sunset, 1,000 armed militiamen attacked the village a second time.
"They burned and looted everything. Some were on horses and camels, others on motorcycles or in the back of pickup trucks," the sheikh said. The attackers did not spare schools (six teachers died) or health centers. A hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) was targeted, killing three people. Kreinik "has been completely destroyed, including government institutions," said the state governor, Khamis Abdullah, who described the acts as crimes against humanity.
The violence is a further escalation of the conflict in Darfur, which began in 2003 between forces of former President Omar al-Bashir's regime and rebellions from communities, including the Massalit, which felt marginalized. More than 300,000 people have been killed and nearly three million displaced by the clashes over the past two decades.
The role of armed militias
Armed militias, nicknamed Janjaweed and composed mainly of Arab nomads, are deployed at the height of violence to fight the rebels. Janjaweed have played a major role in the repression, rape and ethnic cleansing carried out by the military-Islamist regime. According to several witnesses, these Janjaweed militias were once again at work in Kreinik, supported by soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). These paramilitary militias are led by General Mohammed Hamdane Daglo, known as "Hemetti," the second in command of the Sudanese junta. Their uniforms can be identified on several videos viewed by Le Monde.
By Sunday evening, the clashes had spread to Geneina. They continued until Wednesday evening despite the deployment of Sudanese armed forces. Since Monday, the local capital has been a ghost town. All health centers have closed, as have the main market and the airport. According to several witnesses, some of the inhabitants took refuge in the military base of the Sudanese forces responsible for securing the border with Chad.
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