Sudanese paramilitary forces have carried out ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Human Rights Watch says
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00:00Al-Fashir is the last city held by the Sudanese military in the North Darfur region.
00:08Fears grow about an imminent massacre as the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group edges
00:14closer to the besieged regional capital.
00:16Neither food nor medicine can make it through.
00:19Only one hospital is operational.
00:22And unable to flee, civilians live with the specter of famine.
00:27Activists warn an all-out urban battle would cause enormous civilian bloodshed.
00:33The RSF has already been accused of atrocities elsewhere in a new report by the Human Rights
00:38Watch NGO.
00:39It blames the RSF and allied militias of ethnic cleansing in al-Jenina in West Darfur, where
00:44Masalit and other non-Arab communities were attacked between last April and November.
00:49Hundreds of survivors reported witnessing abuses like torture and rape, as well as mass
00:54killings.
00:56About eight militiamen appeared wearing RSF uniforms.
01:00There were others with them from these well-known Arab militias.
01:03They were arguing with people.
01:04They stopped cars.
01:06They opened fire on us.
01:07They shot at the chests of men, women and children.
01:11The militiamen said, we will kill you with knives.
01:14Your town is dirty and we want to rid it of you.
01:17There were children among them.
01:19He took off my robe, threw it on the ground and searched me.
01:22After they took what I had, they grabbed my sister Fatima and they beat her and beat
01:27her.
01:28For more than a year, Sudan has been tramped in a violent power struggle between the army,
01:33headed by the country's de facto leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid
01:38Support Forces commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
01:43Since then, the civil war has resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of
01:47over half a million people, mostly from West Darfur.