Fire turn into aweapon of war in Sudan War

Fire turns into a weapon of war” in Sudan

The American network, NBC News, revealed that a team of researchers documented more than 235 fires that broke out in villages and towns in Sudan since the war began in April 2023.

A report by the American "NBC News" network said that fire is being used as a "weapon of war" in Sudan, as hundreds of villages and towns have been burned to the ground across the country.

Satellite images and open source reports show, according to the network, that “hundreds of villages and towns across Sudan have been completely burned and reduced to rubble,” and that these fires were likely “arsonized.”

The war that broke out more than a year ago between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti” destroyed large parts of the country, killing thousands, and displacing about 10 million people from their homes, leading to the largest crisis. Displacement in the world, according to the United Nations.

As the pace of fighting escalated, experts and analysts told NBC News that “the fires that were deliberately set led to the destruction of homes and aid camps.”

The network quoted Mark Snook, an investigator who relies on open sources, as saying: “When we see reports of fighting breaking out in conjunction with clusters of fires, this indicates that fire may be being used (as a weapon of war).”

“The burning of more than 50 residential communities repeatedly indicates premeditated intent and possible forced displacement,” adds Snook, who tracks fires via satellite with colleagues at the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a non-profit organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations and war crimes. .

Snook and the team of researchers from the Information Resilience Center’s “Witness to Sudan” project rely in part on heat-sensing satellites developed by NASA to monitor forest fires around the world.

So far, they have documented more than 235 fires that have broken out in villages and towns in Sudan since the war began in April 2023, according to NBC News.

In its investigations, the Center for Information Resilience (CIR) combines satellite images and open source reporting, which includes verification of social media content, maps, and publicly available data, with the aim of determining the scope of devastation across Sudan.

The Center for Information Resilience (CIR) revealed, according to the network, that much of the violence is now taking place in Darfur, which is the region located in the far west of Sudan, and where the largest number of shelters for displaced persons are concentrated.

The latest data shows the fires moving and approaching the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, which has a population of 1.5 million people and includes many who fled from other fighting areas.

The city of El Fasher has become a focal point for the latest clashes between the warring parties, as it is considered the last major city in Darfur where the army is present.

Snook told NBC News, “The pattern of fires around El Fasher coincided with the attack launched by the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias to encircle the city.”

One of the video clips, recorded between April 28 and 29, and posted on a channel loyal to the Rapid Support Forces via the Telegram application, shows burning houses in the southeastern area of   El Fasher, and armed men wearing Rapid Support Forces uniforms celebrating.

Within the city, “there is no food in the markets, no access to health care, or access to nutrition centers,” says American gynecologist, Jillian Burkhart, who worked for two months in a hospital in El Fasher as part of the Doctors Without Borders team.

Meanwhile, her husband, Paul Clark, the leader of the logistics team for Doctors Without Borders, who left El Fasher last month, says that transporting humanitarian supplies to the city is “very difficult.”

He adds to the network: “Due to the lack of functioning airports, trucks full of ready-made meals from neighboring Chad take a month to reach the city. This is the best scenario.”

Last week, Doctors Without Borders suspended all activities at the city's Southern Hospital, after Rapid Support Forces soldiers "looted" the facility and "stole an ambulance."

According to Doctors Without Borders, “at least 192 people have been killed and more than 1,230 injured since May 10 in El Fasher.”

On Thursday, the UN Security Council called for an end to the “siege” of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, and an end to the battles around this large city in the Darfur region. The resolution called for “the withdrawal of all fighters who threaten the security of civilians,” while calling on all parties to Allowing the exit of civilians who wish to leave the city

Fire turns into a weapon of war” in Sudan

The American network, NBC News, revealed that a team of researchers documented more than 235 fires that broke out in villages and towns in Sudan since the war began in April 2023.

A report by the American "NBC News" network said that fire is being used as a "weapon of war" in Sudan, as hundreds of villages and towns have been burned to the ground across the country.

Satellite images and open source reports show, according to the network, that “hundreds of villages and towns across Sudan have been completely burned and reduced to rubble,” and that these fires were likely “arsonized.”

The war that broke out more than a year ago between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti” destroyed large parts of the country, killing thousands, and displacing about 10 million people from their homes, leading to the largest crisis. Displacement in the world, according to the United Nations.

As the pace of fighting escalated, experts and analysts told NBC News that “the fires that were deliberately set led to the destruction of homes and aid camps.”

The network quoted Mark Snook, an investigator who relies on open sources, as saying: “When we see reports of fighting breaking out in conjunction with clusters of fires, this indicates that fire may be being used (as a weapon of war).”

“The burning of more than 50 residential communities repeatedly indicates premeditated intent and possible forced displacement,” adds Snook, who tracks fires via satellite with colleagues at the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), a non-profit organization dedicated to exposing human rights violations and war crimes. .

Snook and the team of researchers from the Information Resilience Center’s “Witness to Sudan” project rely in part on heat-sensing satellites developed by NASA to monitor forest fires around the world.

So far, they have documented more than 235 fires that have broken out in villages and towns in Sudan since the war began in April 2023, according to NBC News.

In its investigations, the Center for Information Resilience (CIR) combines satellite images and open source reporting, which includes verification of social media content, maps, and publicly available data, with the aim of determining the scope of devastation across Sudan.

The Center for Information Resilience (CIR) revealed, according to the network, that much of the violence is now taking place in Darfur, which is the region located in the far west of Sudan, and where the largest number of shelters for displaced persons are concentrated.

The latest data shows the fires moving and approaching the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, which has a population of 1.5 million people and includes many who fled from other fighting areas.

The city of El Fasher has become a focal point for the latest clashes between the warring parties, as it is considered the last major city in Darfur where the army is present.

Snook told NBC News, “The pattern of fires around El Fasher coincided with the attack launched by the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias to encircle the city.”

One of the video clips, recorded between April 28 and 29, and posted on a channel loyal to the Rapid Support Forces via the Telegram application, shows burning houses in the southeastern area of   El Fasher, and armed men wearing Rapid Support Forces uniforms celebrating.

Within the city, “there is no food in the markets, no access to health care, or access to nutrition centers,” says American gynecologist, Jillian Burkhart, who worked for two months in a hospital in El Fasher as part of the Doctors Without Borders team.

Meanwhile, her husband, Paul Clark, the leader of the logistics team for Doctors Without Borders, who left El Fasher last month, says that transporting humanitarian supplies to the city is “very difficult.”

He adds to the network: “Due to the lack of functioning airports, trucks full of ready-made meals from neighboring Chad take a month to reach the city. This is the best scenario.”

Last week, Doctors Without Borders suspended all activities at the city's Southern Hospital, after Rapid Support Forces soldiers "looted" the facility and "stole an ambulance."

According to Doctors Without Borders, “at least 192 people have been killed and more than 1,230 injured since May 10 in El Fasher.”

On Thursday, the UN Security Council called for an end to the “siege” of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, and an end to the battles around this large city in the Darfur region. The resolution called for “the withdrawal of all fighters who threaten the security of civilians,” while calling on all parties to Allowing the exit of civilians who wish to leave the city.

The “DNA” of the conflict in Darfur 20 years ago is still present in the fighting today, according to what the former acting Foreign Minister in the Sudanese transitional government, Omar Ismail, says.

The Rapid Support Forces are an extension of the “Janjaweed”, an Arab militia that was supported by the Sudanese government, and was accused by the United Nations of committing acts of ethnic cleansing in Darfur between 2003 and 2005.

But Ismail came back and warned, during his talk to NBC News, that “this war is more fierce.”

“The atrocities committed in this war are unlike anything Sudan has seen before,” adds Ismail, who now works as a researcher at the Yale Human Research Laboratory at the School of Public Health.

Ismail's comment came after a report from the Yale lab earlier this month concluded that the RSF "systematically destroys civilian housing" in areas with large Zaghawa populations, an ethnic minority in Darfur.

The report says: “This represents the first specific evidence of alleged ethnically motivated targeting inside El Fasher, by the Rapid Support Forces.”

Reports issued this year by the United Nations Group of Experts on Sudan and Human Rights Watch also accused members of the Rapid Support Forces and their allied militias of targeting the Masalit minority during fighting in western...