Sudan Government Used Chemical Weapons on Own Population, Amnesty Says

Amnesty International says Sudan's government used chemical weapons.

ByABC News
September 29, 2016, 4:25 AM
PEOPLE DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN JEBEL MARRA IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2016, GATHER AROUND THE UNAMID BASE IN SORTONI, DARFUR.
PEOPLE DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN JEBEL MARRA IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2016, GATHER AROUND THE UNAMID BASE IN SORTONI, DARFUR.
Amnesty International

— -- The government of Sudan has used chemical weapons in multiple attacks against the country's own population, in a dramatic escalation of a long-simmering conflict in recent months, according to a human rights group.

As many as 250 people may have died as a result of at least 32 suspected chemical weapons attacks, the most recent of which took place on September 9, Amnesty International said today in a newly-released report.

Amnesty has also gathered satellite imagery that it says confirms 171 damaged or destroyed villages in the last eight months in a remote area of Darfur that is home to rebel groups that oppose the government.

A FAMILY RIDING ON DONKEYS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF GOLOL, SOUTHERN JEBEL MARRA, September, 2008.
Amnesty International

“The scale and brutality of these attacks is hard to put into words," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s Director of Crisis Research, said in a statement. "The images and videos we have seen in the course of our research are truly shocking; in one a young child is screaming with pain before dying; many photos show young children covered in lesions and blisters. Some were unable to breath and vomiting blood.

“It is hard to exaggerate just how cruel the effects of these chemicals are when they come into contact with the human body."

Amnesty bases its casualty estimate of up to 250 on scores of interviews it conducted with witnesses of the attacks and friends and family members of the victims.

REMNANTS OF BOMBS THAT FELL IN WESTERN JEBEL MARRA AND RELEASED ALLEGEDLY CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGENTS.

“When [the bomb] landed there was some flames and then dark smoke," said a woman in her twenties who was injured by shrapnel. The woman said a toxic cloud immediately followed the initial blast, sickening both her and her baby.

PEOPLE DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE IN THUR, SUDAN IN JUNE 2016.
Amnesty International

"Immediately it caused vomiting and dizzying," the woman continued. "My skin is not normal. I still have headaches, even after I took the medicine ... The baby is not recovering ... he has blisters and wounds.”

Karmal before - Image from 9 March 2015, shows Karmal village.
Amnesty International

The suspected chemical attacks come amid a large-scale military offensive launched in January 2016 by government forces in the remote area of Jebel Marra, against the rebel group, known as Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid (SLA/AW), Amnesty says. The government accuses the rebels of ambushing military convoys and attacking civilians.

The United Nations has warned that some 80,000 people have fled the Jebel Marra region during the government offensive. Nearly three million people in total remain displaced inside the troubled country. Some 300,000 people have died since civil war first broke out in Sudan in 2003.

Karmal after attack - Imagery from 29 April 2016, shows Karmal village has been almost completely razed by fire. Only a few thatched roof tukuls, on the outer edges of the village, appear undamaged.
Amnesty International

“The use of chemical weapons is a war crime," Hassan said. "The evidence we have gathered is credible and portrays a regime that is intent on directing attacks against the civilian population in Darfur without any fear of international retribution.”