Amnesty International, Thursday, said that the Sudanese government has likely conducted at least 30 chemical weapons attacks against civilians in the country’s Darfur region this year.

Photo: Sudanese-president, Omar al-Bashir

The report is based on information from satellite imagery and more than 200 interviews.

It was found that between 200-250 people, most of them children, have died due to chemical weapons attacks in Darfur’s Jebel Marra region since January 2016.

Images and videos used for the research showed children screaming with pain, vomiting blood, blistering and struggling to breathe after being exposed to chemical agents, said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s director of crisis research.

“The scale and brutality of these attacks is hard to put into words,” Hassan said.

“Chemical weapons have been banned for decades in recognition of the fact that the level of suffering they cause can never be justified. The fact that Sudan’s government is now repeatedly using them against their own people simply cannot be ignored and demands action.”

The report’s findings were presented to two independent chemical weapons experts, both of whom concluded that there was strong evidence for the use of blister agents such as mustard gas.

“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.”

The suspected chemical attacks came as the Sudanese government began a large-scale offensive against the Sudan Liberation Army rebel group in the mountainous Jebel Marra region in early 2016.

The UN was able to verify that more than 80,000 people had been newly displaced in the region in 2016.

According to UN estimates, another 117,000 people have also had to flee their homes, however, the UN is unable to verify the number due to lack of access.

The conflict in Darfur has been ongoing since 2003. Rebel groups accuse Khartoum of oppressing Darfur’s non-Arab population.

The region has also seen inter-communal violence.

About 300,000 people are estimated to have died from the fighting or related malnutrition and disease, while 2.6 million have been displaced.

Read the Amnesty International report below:

SCORCHED EARTH, POISONED AIR

Credible evidence of children killed and maimed by horrific chemical weapons attacks in Darfur

The Sudanese government is inflicting unspeakable human suffering on its own people.

Amnesty International has gathered harrowing evidence strongly suggesting the repeated use of chemical weapons against civilians, including very young children, in Jebel Marra – one the most remote parts of Darfur.

The effects of these chemicals on the human body are gruesome and frequently fatal.

Based on testimony from caregivers and survivors, Amnesty International estimates that between 200 and 250 people may have died as a result of exposure to chemical weapons agents. Many – or most – are children.

Amnesty International’s investigation found that at least 30 suspected chemical attacks have taken place so far this year. The most recent was on 9 September.

It is time to expose the harrowing human rights violations taking place in Jebel Marra to a world that has so far ignored them.

DAMNING EVIDENCE

 “Babies screaming with pain before dying,

young children vomiting blood. The

images we have seen are truly shocking”

Independent chemical weapons experts said Amnesty International’s findings suggested exposure to chemical warfare agents.

DEADLY EFFECTS 

It is hard to exaggerate just how cruel the effects of chemical weapons are when they come into contact with the human body. Those exposed to the chemicals developed symptoms reported to include :

Bloody vomiting and diarrhoea

Blistering and rashes on skin that hardened, changed colour and fell off

Eye problems including complete loss of vision

Respiratory problems (which appeared to be one of the most common cause of death) 

The vast majority of survivors of the suspected chemical weapons attacks have visited no formal medical clinics and had no access to adequate medical care.

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