Human Rights Watch Urges Probe into Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur

FILE PHOTO: A Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, sits at her makeshift shelter near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, sits at her makeshift shelter near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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Human Rights Watch Urges Probe into Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur

FILE PHOTO: A Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, sits at her makeshift shelter near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Sudanese refugee who has fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, sits at her makeshift shelter near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

A prominent rights group on Tuesday called for the International Criminal Court to investigate atrocities in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region, including what it says were “summary executions” of 28 non-Arab tribesmen by the Rapid Support Forces in May.

Human Rights Watch said several thousand RSF members and their allies rampaged through the Darfur town of Misterei, home to the non-Arab Massalit tribe, on May 28.

The assailants killed the tribesmen and also left dozens of civilians dead or wounded, the New York-based watchdog said. The attack came as the RSF and Sudan’s army have been engaged in monthslong fighting that the United Nations says has brought Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war.

“The mass killings of civilians and total destruction of the town of Misterei demonstrates the need for a stronger international response to the widening conflict,” said Jean Baptiste Gallopin, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch.

HRW urged the ICC to investigate the attack on Misterei and others elsewhere in Darfur as part of its investigation into the region's genocidal war in the early 2000s.



UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Say they Observed Israeli Army Destroying Residential Areas

 This picture taken on October 13, 2024 during a controlled embed organised by the Israeli military, shows Israeli troops patrolling in the southern Lebanon's Naqoura region near the border. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
This picture taken on October 13, 2024 during a controlled embed organised by the Israeli military, shows Israeli troops patrolling in the southern Lebanon's Naqoura region near the border. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Say they Observed Israeli Army Destroying Residential Areas

 This picture taken on October 13, 2024 during a controlled embed organised by the Israeli military, shows Israeli troops patrolling in the southern Lebanon's Naqoura region near the border. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
This picture taken on October 13, 2024 during a controlled embed organised by the Israeli military, shows Israeli troops patrolling in the southern Lebanon's Naqoura region near the border. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon on Monday said it has observed recent “concerning actions” by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, including the destruction of residential areas and road blockages.
A spokesperson for the peacekeeping mission, Kandice Ardiel, told The Associated Press that peacekeepers also observed on Monday an Israeli flag flying in Lebanese territory near Naqoura. The town hosts the headquarters of the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL.
Under the terms of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli army is required to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon within 60 days of the agreement’s signing on Nov. 27.
Since the ceasefire went into effect, the Israeli army has conducted near-daily military operations in southern villages, including firing gunshots, house demolitions, excavations, tank shelling and strikes. These actions have killed at least 27 people, wounded more than 30, destroyed residential buildings and, in one case, a mosque.
“Peacekeepers continue to monitor the situation on the ground and report violations of Resolution 1701,” Ardiel said. “We reiterate our call for all actors to cease and refrain from violations of Resolution 1701 and any actions that may upset the current delicate balance.”
On Monday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati visited the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Khiam as part of a tour of front-line areas alongside army chief Joseph Aoun and UNIFIL Head of Mission Aroldo Lazaro. Mikati and Lazaro urged the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese territory to allow the army to fully assume its duties.