Investigative Report: Is the Sudanese Army Leading a Silent Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing in the West?

20th May 2025

3 minutes read

Investigative Report: Is the Sudanese Army Leading a Silent Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing in the West?

Since the outbreak of violent conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), numerous villages in western Sudan — particularly in West Darfur and South Kordofan — have turned into open grounds of devastation. While blame is frequently attributed to both factions, eyewitness accounts and human rights reports point to direct involvement by army units in summary executions, village destruction, and forced ethnic displacement.

Mass Grave in Mukjar

In March 2025, a mass grave containing more than 30 bodies, mostly women and children, was discovered in Mukjar, West Darfur. According to eyewitnesses and the American NGO Enough Project, many victims had their hands tied, and some had been burned after execution.

Horrific Testimonies: “They told us we were slaves and must leave”

Abdelhafiz Youssef, 34, a survivor from the burned village of Tandlti, recounts: “They came dressed in military uniforms, saying we were harboring rebels… then they started shooting randomly. I saw my neighbors slaughtered with bayonets. They told us: You are slaves, you have no place here.”

This language — a toxic mix of racism and systematic violence — is not new to the region. But it is resurfacing with disturbing intensity amid the absence of meaningful international oversight and a global community focused on the major war in Khartoum.

Evidence of an Organized Cleansing Policy

Reports by organizations such as the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) highlight repetitive patterns in army-controlled areas: violent raids, mass arrests, ethnically targeted executions, arson attacks on homes and farms, and forced displacement.

Kill lists and identity-based detentions have been documented in Central Darfur, where civilians from the Fur and Masalit tribes are allegedly taken to secret detention sites and asked to state their ethnicity. Those who do are reportedly deemed threats and eliminated, according to leaked testimonies.

Indiscriminate Aerial Bombardments

Sudanese military aircraft have conducted multiple strikes on densely populated towns such as Qolo and Nertiti — without any armed groups present, according to local humanitarian missions.

Official Silence and Suspicions of Complicity

While Sudan’s military leadership denies any involvement, it continues to block access to affected regions by independent or international teams, raising suspicions of a deliberate effort to conceal potential evidence of ethnic cleansing.

A prominent Sudanese lawyer, speaking anonymously, told [the publication]: “Certain powerful figures within the military see these regions as demographic threats and recruitment grounds for the RSF. They aim to depopulate them under the guise of war.”

International Community: Statements Without Action

Though the UN Human Rights Office has warned that the situation in Darfur may amount to crimes against humanity, international action remains slow and ineffective.

The African Union has limited its response to calls for restraint, and UN efforts to establish an international investigative committee have failed — largely due to opposition from states aligned with Khartoum.

Genocide Watch has classified the situation in Western Sudan as Stage 8 (Persecution) of the Ten Stages of Genocide, warning that large-scale ethnic cleansing is likely if the conflict continues without urgent international intervention.

A Tragedy Buried Under a Larger War

Amid the chaos of the larger war in Khartoum, another conflict is unfolding quietly in western Sudan — where entire communities are being systematically emptied, under the shadow of internal collusion and global silence.

Will the perpetrators ever be held accountable?
Or will another chapter of genocide be written off as civil war or rebellion — forgotten by history, buried in the sand?