Footages for Beri’s children in North Darfur eating raw sorghum flour remind of the 2003 tragic events in Darfur when the deposed president Omer al-Bashir waged a war against the region using the then known Janjaweed fighters from which the RSF evolved
North Darfur: Altaghyeer
Altaghyeer has a picture shows hungry children in Beri area, North Darfur’s Kutum Locality, eating uncooked – or even mixed with water – sorghum flour which was grinded in a traditional millstone (a pair of flat round stones) by the elderly woman they were accompanying.
Those children represent but a small sample of thousands of children in Darfur Region who are suffering from hunger and diseases after they were forced to fled their homes because of April 2023 war.
Under Siege
Beri area, about 160 kilometres north west of North Darfur’s capital, al-Fashir, is under siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and it’s allied militias for almost three months.
They prevent passage of any food or medicinal supplies to the area, looted the people properties and raped women who go to their farms to fetch harvested crops.
They burned down more than 65 villages in North Darfur and killed scores of women and children while the survivors were forced to seek protection in the hills and trees, member of Anka Emergency Committee, Nasir Mohamed Musa, told Altaghyeer.
The picture of Beri’s hunger-stricken children reminds of the 2003 tragic events in Darfur when the deposed president Omer al-Bashir waged a war against the region using the then known Janjaweed fighters from which the RSF evolved.
Beri’s residents have resorted to this primitive way in order to save lives of children and elderly people as starvation hit many parts of Darfur Region while arrival of the World Food Programme’s humanitarian assistance has been impeded since start of the war.
According to Adam Rijal, official spokesman of the displaced people and refugees, some children in Darfur had died after eating from garbage.
At least one child dies every two hours in Zamzam camp for the displaced people due to lack of sufficient food, clean water and absence of health care as the charity organization Doctors Without Borders reported in January.
Systematic Targeting
Member of Anka Emergency Committee, Nasir Mohamed Musa, considered what happens to inhabitants of those areas a systematic targeting despite the fact that there was no SAF troops or allied forces or supporters of Bashir defunct regime there.
He accused the RSF of seeking to introduce a demographic change by settling citizens of other regions in this area.
Anka Emergency Committee affirmed that the RSF has committed brutal violations against the civilians focusing systematically on murdering women, children and elderly people ruthlessly repeating the events of 2003.
The Committee appealed to international community to pressure for imposing strict sanctions on the militias and hold perpetrators accountable in accordance with the international law.
