Battle of Geneina

Battle of Geneina
Part of the War in Sudan

El Geneina market after being torched in late April.
DateBattles: 15 April 2023 - 14 June 2023 [2](1 month and 30 days)
Massacre: 14 June 2023 - 22 June 2023 [3] (8 days)
Location
Geneina (and surroundings), West Darfur, Sudan
13°27′N 22°27′E / 13.450°N 22.450°E / 13.450; 22.450
Result RSF victory[3]
Belligerents

Masalit self-defense groups
Sudanese Alliance
West Darfur Police

Sudanese Armed Forces

Darfur Joint Protection Force[1]		 Rapid Support Forces
Janjaweed and Rizeigat Arab fighters
Tamazuj
Chadian mercenaries
Central African mercenaries
Commanders and leaders
Khamis Abakar † (Governor of West Darfur and founder of Sudanese Alliance)[4]
Abdel-Baqi al-Hassan Mohammed † (Deputy Commander of West Darfur Police)
Sultan Saad Bahr el Din (Sultan of Masalit)		 Abdel Rahman Jumma (Leader of the RSF in West Darfur)[5]
Massar Abdelrahman Assil (Emir of Rizeigat Arabs)
Al-Tijani Al-Tahir Karshoum (Deputy Governor of West Darfur)
Musa Angir (Leader of Tamazuj in El Geneina)
Idriss Hassan (Former leader of RSF in West Darfur)
Hafiz Hassan (Emir in Native Administration)
Units involved
15th Infantry Division[6] Unknown
Strength
2,000[7] 16,000[8]
Casualties and losses
5,000+ civilians killed (between 24 April and 24 June)[9][10][3]
Up to 15,000 people killed (UN report)[11]
370,000+ refugees[9][12][13]
Battle of Geneina is located in Sudan
Battle of Geneina
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Location within Sudan

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.[14]

Initial clashes broke out on April 15 between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) but dissipated by April 20. Fighting had devolved along tribal lines following attacks on Masalit neighborhoods by the RSF and allied militias, with Masalit civilians taking up arms and forming self-defense militias alongside the Sudanese Alliance with some SAF backing against Arab and non-Masalit Janjaweed militias backed by the RSF.[15][a]

Janjaweed and RSF fighters overran Masalit resistance in April, with the militias slaughtering and torching Masalit neighborhoods and IDP camps.[16] Bodies of Masalit civilians were piled up in the streets from April to June during the genocidal[17] campaign, and thousands fled to the Sudanese army garrison at Ardamata and towards the Chadian border.[15][16] The killings of civilians ramped up in mid-June following the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abakar (an ethnic Masalit).[18] The RSF and Janjaweed captured the entirety of Geneina by June 22, eliminating all pockets of resistance in neighborhoods they had captured on June 14.[19]

Renewed clashes broke out in Ardamata and Geneina in early November 2023, as RSF and Janjaweed militias stormed the Sudanese Army garrison where thousands of civilians sought refuge from the massacres earlier that year. Over 1,000 civilians and soldiers were massacred following the capture of the garrison.[15]

  1. ^ SudanTribune (24 May 2023). "Rapid Support Forces ambush peace groups in West Darfur". Sudan Tribune. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  2. ^ Gallopin, Jean-Baptiste (9 May 2024). ""The Massalit Won't Come Home"". HRW. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Darfur lawyers: 'Bodies scattered across El Geneina'". Dabanga Radio TV Online. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  4. ^ "West Darfur governor abducted, killed as war in Sudan spreads". Aljazeera. 15 June 2023. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  5. ^ عثمان, مزدلفة. "الحلقات تضيق بشأن المسؤولية عن تصفيته.. تفاصيل جديدة عن اغتيال والي غرب دارفور خميس أبكر". www.aljazeera.net. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  6. ^ McGregor 2023.
  7. ^ "How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacre in Sudan". Reuters. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
  8. ^ "10,000 reported killed in one West Darfur city, as ethnic violence ravages Sudanese region". CNN. 26 July 2023. Archived from the original on 6 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  9. ^ a b Ramadane, Mahamat; Eltahir, Nafisa (26 May 2023). "Sudan war spells more disaster for Darfur city on Chad border". Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  10. ^ "'Inconceivable suffering' in West Darfur". 8 June 2023. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  11. ^ Gabriele Steinhauser (21 March 2024). "'We Will Shoot You.' War in Darfur Raises New Fears of Genocide". The Wall Street Journal.
  12. ^ "A 'Dystopian Nightmare' Unfolds in Sudan's Battered Darfur Region". Yahoo News. 8 June 2023. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  13. ^ "SITUATION REPORT – HORN OF AFRICA No. 450 – 13 June 2023" (PDF). EEPA. 6 June 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Sudan: Ethnic Cleansing in West Darfur | Human Rights Watch". 9 May 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  15. ^ a b c Gallopin, Jean-Baptiste (9 May 2024). ""The Massalit Will Not Come Home"". Human Rights Watch.
  16. ^ a b Michael, Maggie; McNeill, Ryan; Bensemra, Zohra; Siddig, El Tayeb (22 September 2023). "The Slaughter of El Geneina". Reuters. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  17. ^ Journal, Gabriele Steinhauser | The Wall Street (14 April 2024). "New Darfur Genocide: Sudanese RSF massacres Masalit". genocidewatch. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  18. ^ Salih, Zeinab Mohammed (29 February 2024). "Sudan's war leaves deep scars in Geneina, a city of two massacres". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  19. ^ "Darfuri refugees recount harrowing escapes to Chad". The New Humanitarian. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.


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