A UK-based rights group’s analysis has unveiled that fires used as weapons inflicted unparalleled damage on villages and towns in Sudan’s west during April, surpassing any previous month since the conflict erupted over a year ago.
Sudan Witness, an open-source project managed by the nonprofit Center for Information Resilience, disclosed that 72 settlements suffered destruction or damage from fires last month. This escalation brings the total number of settlements affected by fire in Sudan to 201 since the conflict’s inception in mid-April of the preceding year.
Project Director of Sudan Witness, Anouk Theunissen, underscored the disturbing patterns of fires devastating settlements throughout western Sudan since the conflict’s outbreak. She emphasized the correlation between reports of fighting or airstrikes and clusters of fires, suggesting indiscriminate use of fire as a weapon of war, exacerbating the mass displacement of Sudanese civilians.
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The surge in fires, notably in the north and west of el-Fasher, North Darfur’s capital city facing imminent military threats, signals heightened tensions.
Sudan Witness investigators meticulously traced fire patterns across the strife-ridden nation, employing social media, satellite imagery, and NASA’s public fire monitoring data. They discovered instances where fires were deliberately set multiple times in settlements sheltering displaced persons.
The group’s analysis revealed a strong link between fires and conflict. For instance, verified fires coincided with reports of Sudanese military airstrikes, with the damage to buildings consistent with shrapnel, as identified by project investigators.
Since mid-April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by violence stemming from tensions between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, escalating into intense nationwide clashes. Darfur, in particular, has borne the brunt of brutal attacks amid the spreading conflict.
