Rapid Support Forces in South Darfur

Sudan Democracy First Group-The RSF, with some 6,000 men fighting alongside the government, unleashed deadly attacks on the area southeast of Nyala, capital of South Darfur, targeting more than 30 villages. The area has two main administrative units, Sanya Dellaiba and Hejair Tonyo, the birth place of Daud Yahya Bolad, an earlier Darfur rebel movement leader, who was captured, executed in 1991 by the government. The area is mainly inhibited by Fur and Zaghawa tribes. The attacks took place on 27 and 28 February, with the indiscriminate killing of dozens of unarmed civilians, and widespread #####ng. Between 30,000 to 40,000 villagers fled to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps near Nyala.
The attacks were prompted by the reported return of SLM-MM forces to the vicinity after redeploying from South Kordofan. However, instead of engaging the SLM-MM rebels, the integrated militia opted for the collective punishment of populations it deems sympathetic to the rebels, based on their ethnic background.
That such crimes and ethnic targeting are condoned and encouraged by the government was made clear when the highest civilian and military authorities of South Darfur gave a heroes’ welcome to the Rapid Support Forces in Nyala on 3 March. In another official ceremony, the state Governor Adam Mahmoud Gar el-Naby explained that the Rapid Support Forces were selected and trained by the military to carry out specific tasks under the military. These forces had reached Darfur, the Governor explained, to cleanse it of the insurgency, as confirmed by Major General Abbas Abdul Hamid.