From an interview with the Sudanese human-rights lawyer Jamal Abdallah Khamis, recorded last October by Human Rights Watch. On June 14, 2023, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and Arab militias overwhelmed Masalit-majority neighborhoods in West Darfur’s capital, Geneina. Tens of thousands of Masalit people and other non-Arabs tried to flee central Geneina for its northern suburb of Ardamata, the location of a Sudanese Armed Forces base. The RSF and militias attacked the refugees, injuring and killing men, women, and children.

I was accompanying my injured friend. There were others with them from these well-known Arab militias. They were arguing with people. They stopped the cars. They opened fire on us. They shot at the chests of children, women, old and young men. It was a harrowing scene.

How were we going to escape? They started chasing people down the valley and firing on people who were in the water. It was terrifying. We couldn’t go back or move forward. We hid in some grass and bushes on the edge of the valley. That was at dawn on the fifteenth. Then a chance came to run back to Geneina.

When we were going down the street, we saw bodies everywhere, of women and children. They were the bodies of people we knew personally. But you can’t stop and help someone who is dead in the street. We kept running because we were being chased.

I found someone I knew and said, “Let my friend Kabello ride with you. He’s injured. It’s not a problem. I’ll walk behind with everyone else.” He said, “My car is full, but he can get in.” After a while, we were attacked. Bullets started showering us from all directions, and people were killed.

A child of around nine years old came to me crying hysterically and was holding on to me. While we were walking, we came to a big trench. But the militiamen probably saw us going in there, because they were nearby. They forced us out and started beating us, torturing us, and firing just over our heads. They were arguing about whether to kill us or not. They stole from those who had belongings.

The nine-year-old child was lying down by my side. The beating and torturing intensified. They were using a metal rod, some sticks, and whips to beat us. We were lying on our stomachs, and he stood up. The young boy couldn’t handle it anymore. They shot him in the head, and his head exploded. He died immediately.

A second group also started beating and interrogating us. They asked what tribes we were from. If you answered that you are Masalit, they would kill you immediately. I denied that I am Masalit, even though I am. They pressured me, and I told them I am from the Bargo tribe. They brought someone to talk to me in the Bargo language, and I replied, because I know how to speak it. He said, “Brother, go.”