Galgani massacre

Last updated
Galgani massacre
Part of Sennar offensive and War crimes during the Sudanese civil war (2023–present)
LocationGalgani, Sennar State, Sudan
Date15 August 2024
TargetGalgani villagers
Attack type
Indiscriminate shooting, looting, arson
WeaponsAutomatic rifles, Heavy weapons
Deaths108+, 24+ women and minors
Injured153+
PerpetratorRapid Support Forces
MotiveRetaliation for villagers resisting an earlier attack

The Galgani massacre refers to a mass killing of civilians in the central Sudanese village of Galgani by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 15 August 2024, which killed at least 108 people, [1] including at least 24 women and children. [2]

Contents

Background

In late-June 2024, RSF troops were able to capture Singa, the capital of Sennar State. From there, RSF troops were able to expand control into the eastern regions of the state. Based on reports from the International Organization for Migration, fighting led to the displacement of 725,000 people in Sennar, with Al Qadarif State taking in over 100,000 people. [3]

Beginning in late-July, the Rapid Support Forces began to attack the village of Galgani located in the central Sudanese Sennar State. Sudan's Foreign Ministry stated that RSF soldiers “indiscriminately opened fire on the village’s unarmed residents” as a result of facing resistance from villagers against their efforts to "abduct and sexually assault" several women civilians and girls. [2]

The Sennar Youth Gathering reported that the RSF targeted Galgani on August 11, firing indiscriminately at crowds of people as they invaded while ceasing the operations of medical and other service facilities, triggering further mass migrations into the Blue Nile State. [3]

Massacre

On 15 August 2024, hundreds of RSF troops on four-wheel drive vehicles launched a multiple hours long attack, storming Galgani while looting houses and other public properties, after which troops burnt them. The attack came after villagers launched a resistance against the RSF and successfully beat back a small RSF group, killing three militiamen. [1] As a result of the attack, the village's medical center took in at least 80 deceased victims which included 24 women and minors. [2] Among these were several students practicing at Koranic schools. At least 153 civilians were reported to have been injured in the attack. [4] The attack left groups of bodies laying out on streets due to the presence of RSF troops preventing civilians from taking in the dead and burying them. [2] Most of the village's 14,000 inhabitants subsequently fled to Blue Nile State. [1]

Aftermath

The Foreign Ministry of Sudan called on the international community to "condemn this terrorist crime and to take the necessary measures to treat the Dagalo militia as a terrorist organization, responsible for crimes against humanity". The statement was primarily targeted towards the United Nations. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North</span> Political party and militant organisation in Sudan

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North, or SPLM–N, is a political party and militant organisation in the Republic of the Sudan, based in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. The group's armed forces are formally known as the Sudan People's Liberation Army–North or SPLA–N. In 2011 when South Sudan broke away from Sudan to form a new country, most of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Army (SPLA) left with it, leaving units remaining across the border in Sudan to form the SPLA–N.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile</span> 2011–2020 insurgency in southern Sudan

The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile was an armed conflict in the Sudanese states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N), a northern affiliate of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan. After some years of relative calm following the 2005 agreement which ended the second Sudanese civil war between the Sudanese government and SPLM rebels, fighting broke out again in the lead-up to South Sudan independence on 9 July 2011, starting in South Kordofan on 5 June and spreading to the neighboring Blue Nile state in September. SPLM-N, splitting from newly independent SPLM, took up arms against the inclusion of the two southern states in Sudan with no popular consultation and against the lack of democratic elections. The conflict is intertwined with the War in Darfur, since in November 2011 SPLM-N established a loose alliance with Darfuri rebels, called Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).

Ethnic violence in South Sudan has a long history among South Sudan's varied ethnic groups. South Sudan has 64 tribes with the largest being the Dinka, who constitute about 35% of the population and predominate in government. The second largest are the Nuers. Conflict is often aggravated among nomadic groups over the issue of cattle and grazing land and is part of the wider Sudanese nomadic conflicts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapid Support Forces</span> Sudanese paramilitary force formed in 2013

The Rapid Support Forces is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the Government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. Its actions in Darfur qualify as crimes against humanity in the opinion of Human Rights Watch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemedti</span> Sudanese military officer, former warlord and Janjaweed mercenary

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, generally referred to mononymously as Hemedti, Hemetti, Hemeti, or Hemitte, is a Janjaweed leader from the Rizeigat tribe in Darfur, who was the Deputy head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. Since 2013, Hemetti has commanded the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). He was considered by The Economist to be the most powerful person in Sudan as of early July 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khartoum massacre</span> 2019 mass-killing in Sudan

The Khartoum massacre occurred on 3 June 2019, when the armed forces of the Sudanese Transitional Military Council, headed by the Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan of the Sudan Armed Forces and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the immediate successor organisation to the Janjaweed militia, used heavy gunfire and tear gas to disperse a sit-in by protestors in Khartoum, killing over 100 people, with difficulties in estimating the actual numbers. At least forty of the bodies had been thrown in the River Nile. Hundreds of unarmed civilians were injured, hundreds of unarmed citizens were arrested, many families were terrorised in their home estates across Sudan, and the RSF raped more than 70 women and men. The Internet was almost completely blocked in Sudan in the days following the massacre, making it difficult to estimate the number of victims.

The following lists events during 2023 in the Republic of the Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudanese civil war (2023–present)</span> Ongoing civil war in Sudan since 2023

A civil war between two major rival factions of the military government of Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its allies under the Janjaweed leader Hemedti, began during Ramadan on 15 April 2023. Three minor (neutral) factions have participated in the fighting: Darfur Joint Protection Force, SLM (al-Nur) under Abdul Wahid al-Nur, and SPLM-N under Abdelaziz al-Hilu. Fighting has been concentrated around the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region. As of 8 September 2024, at least 20,000 people had been killed and 33,000 others were injured. As of 5 July 2024, over 7.7 million were internally displaced and more than 2.1 million others had fled the country as refugees, and many civilians in Darfur have been reported dead as part of the Masalit massacres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Geneina</span> Major battles and massacres of the Darfur campaign of the Sudanese civil war

The Geneina massacre, also the Battle of Geneina, was a series of major battles for control of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur in Sudan, between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias against Masalit self-defense militias and the Sudanese Alliance. The battles primarily lasted between April 24 and June 14, 2023, with major attacks and massacres by the RSF and allied militias on Masalit civilians in the city. After the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abakar on June 14, thousands of Masalit civilians were slaughtered in the city between June 14 and June 22 by the RSF and allied militias.

The following is a timeline of the Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of El Obeid</span> Siege in the 2023 Sudan conflict

The siege of El Obeid was a siege in El-Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan, during the 2023 Sudan conflict. The battle began on April 15, and saw the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) capture the El Obeid airport from the Sudanese Army contingent in the city. Throughout April and May, the Sudanese Army repelled several RSF assaults on the city, although by May 30, the RSF fully surrounded the city and laid siege to it.

The Battle of Kutum was a conflict during the War in Sudan which occurred in and around the town of Kutum in North Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces quickly overran the city, and carried out massacres in the city and the neighboring Kassab IDP camp. The group then attacked neighboring villages in early June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crimes during the Sudanese civil war (2023–present)</span>

The civil war in Sudan, which started on 15 April 2023, has seen widespread war crimes committed by both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with the RSF being singled out by the Human Rights Watch, and the United Kingdom and United States governments for committing ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Beginning on April 21, 2022, clashes broke out between Janjaweed and Masalit civilians in the Kreinik refugee camp near El Geneina, West Darfur. These led to massacres over the following days by Janjaweed and the Rapid Support Forces, with hundreds of civilians killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masalit massacres (2023–present)</span> 2023 civilian killings in Sudan

The Masalit massacres are an ongoing series of massacres of the Masalit ethnic group in Sudan perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Sudan and its allies. The massacres began in 2023 during the Sudanese civil war when the RSF began committing organized mass killings of Masalit civilians in West Dafur.

The following lists events during 2024 in the Republic of the Sudan.

The Battle of Wad Madani was a battle in the Sudanese civil war over the control of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State in east-central Sudan, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The battle ended in an RSF victory on 19 December 2023.

The following is a timeline of the Sudanese civil war (2023–present) in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wad An Nora massacre</span> 2024 massacre of villagers by the Rapid Support Forces

The Wad Al-Noora massacre started at around 05:00 (GMT+2) on 5 June 2024, when the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the village of Wad Al-Noora in Al-Jazira state twice, killing at least 100 civilians. The massacre followed after the RSF sieged and opened fire on the village.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has waged a major offensive against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in Sennar State, resulting in widespread violence and displacement, as part of the ongoing Sudanese civil war.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "More than 100 killed in RSF revenge attack on Sudan village". Radio Dabanga. 2024-08-19. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Sudan's paramilitary fighters killed 85 people in an attack on a central village, residents say". AP News. 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  3. 1 2 "RSF fighters accused of massacre in Sudan's Sennar state". Sudan Tribune. 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  4. 1 2 "Sudan, the government accuses the RSF of killing 85 civilians in the south-east: "A brutal massacre"". Agenzia Nova. 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.