Mass grave containing 87 bodies found in Sudan, says UN

According to ‘credible information’ obtained by the UN Human Rights Office, shallow grave discovered in West Darfur city of El Geneina

El Geneina, in West Darfur, pictured in April (AFP via Getty Images)

The bodies of dozens of people allegedly killed by Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia have been uncovered in a mass grave in West Darfur, the United Nations has said.

According to “credible information” obtained by the UN Human Rights Office, the bodies of the 87 people, some of whom belong to the ethnic African Masalit tribe, were dumped in a one-metre shallow grave just outside the city of El Geneina.

Ethnically motivated bloodshed has escalated in recent weeks in step with fighting between rival military factions that erupted in April and has brought the country to the brink of civil war. In El Geneina, witnesses and rights groups have reported waves of attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary faction and Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit people, including shootings at close range.

Local people were forced to dispose of the bodies including those of women and children in an open area near the city between 20 June and 21 June, the a UN statement said. Some of the people had died from untreated injuries, it said.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the killing of civilians and hors de combat individuals, and I am further appalled by the callous and disrespectful way the dead, along with their families and communities, were treated," said the UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk in the same statement. He called for a prompt and thorough investigation. It was not possible to determine exactly what portion of the dead were ethnic Masalits, a UN spokesperson added.

An RSF senior official who declined to be identified said it "completely denies any connection to the events in West Darfur as we are not party to it, and we did not get involved in a conflict as the conflict is a tribal one." Another RSF source said it was being accused due to political motivations from the Masalit and others. He reiterated that the group was ready to participate in an investigation and to hand over any of its forces found to have broken the law.

The ethnic killings have raised fears of a repeat of the atrocities perpetuated in Darfur after 2003, when "Janjaweed" militias from which the RSF was formed helped the government crush a rebellion by mainly non-Arab groups in Darfur, killing some 300,000 people.

“This report is a good first step, but more efforts are needed to uncover more violations,” said Ibrahim, a refugee in neighbouring Chad, who asked to withhold his last name for fear of retribution.

Army spokesperson Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah claimed that the incident "rises to the level of war crimes and these kinds of crimes should not pass without accountability."

"This rebel militia is not against the army but against the Sudanese citizen, and [its] a project of ethnic cleansing," he said.

Reuters