On Wednesday, a human rights group urged the UN to send monitors to Darfur, Sudan’s western region, where a surge in tribal fighting has killed more than 180 people since October.
A year after the UN Security Council ended the mandate of the United Nations – African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement that the monitors should include specialists on gender-based crimes.
Tribal clashes in Darfur over the last year have left a trail of ruin, according to Mohamed Osman, HRW’s Sudan researcher.
Since October, at least 183 people have been killed and scores have been injured, with thousands displaced and some crossing into Chad.
The latest bloodshed, according to Osman, is a stern wake-up call for the international community to intervene. Also, he stated that the UN’s goal now should be to step up human rights monitoring and guarantee that Sudan’s attempts to protect millions of Darfuris are rigorously scrutinized.
According to HRW, UNAMID’s departure has created a vacuum in monitoring violations driven by impunity for atrocities perpetrated in Darfur.
UNAMID was discontinued by the Security Council on December 31, 2020, and was replaced by a significantly smaller and primarily political mission, whose mandate will expire in June of the following year.
