UN Refugee Chief Warns of ‘Forgotten’ Atrocities as Sudan War Mirrors Darfur Genocide

Twenty years after the world vowed “never again” following mass killings in Sudan’s Darfur region, history is repeating itself, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi told AFP.

Since April 2023, fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands and triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. The conflict carries “ethnic connotations” reminiscent of Darfur’s 2003 atrocities, Grandi said, citing reports of rape, child recruitment, and mass killings.

Back then, dictator Omar al-Bashir unleashed Janjaweed militias against non-Arab communities, leaving an estimated 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced. Today, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — himself a former Janjaweed leader — is accused of presiding over similar brutality.

“This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world,” Grandi said, with 12 million displaced and one-third seeking refuge in fragile neighboring countries. In El-Fasher, North Darfur’s last city under army control, hundreds of thousands are trapped under an 18-month siege, starving and barred from escape. “Many flee at night at great risk. I’m sure many do not make it,” he said.

Yet global attention remains muted. “Let’s be frank, I’m not sure the world is forgetting, because it has never paid much attention to it,” Grandi said, doubting the UN General Assembly in New York this week will shift priorities.

Cuts in U.S. and European aid have deepened the crisis. “It is a huge strategic mistake,” he warned, arguing reduced humanitarian support risks driving more migration toward Europe.

Grandi also pointed to Myanmar, where a brutal civil war since the 2021 coup has displaced about three million people. The plight of the Rohingya, more than a million of whom remain in Bangladesh, will be discussed at a high-level UN meeting on September 30.

“Compared to 20 years ago, the international attention is much less,” Grandi said. “Is it fatigue? Competition from other crises? Difficult to tell, but people are suffering in the same way.”