Satellite Data Exposes Deliberate Starvation Campaign in Sudan's Darfur Region
New evidence from satellite sensors and imagery analysis reveals what experts describe as a calculated "starvation strategy" implemented by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces against farming communities in Darfur. Between March and June 2024, researchers documented 41 villages systematically attacked, with their agricultural infrastructure destroyed in what legal scholars argue constitutes a war crime.
The Systematic Destruction of Darfur's Breadbasket
Ammar Jadid, a village in Darfur that once fed the entire region including the city of El Fasher 20 miles away, now lies blackened and abandoned. Fields that produced corn and millet for decades have been burned repeatedly, with satellite images showing green vegetation growing uncontrolled over abandoned homes and farmland by September 2024. The attacks occurred just before the RSF's siege of El Fasher began in April 2024.
Researchers at Yale's Humanitarian Research Lab identified a 2040% increase in fires during the studied period across the targeted villages. A quarter of these communities were attacked multiple times, and after the violence, 68% showed no signs of normal life. Vehicles consistent with those used by the RSF were identified near the scenes of destruction.
Legal Experts: Clear Evidence of War Crimes
Tom Dannenbaum, a professor at Stanford Law School and co-author of a new analysis alongside Yale Law School professor Oona Hathaway, states that the evidence demonstrates "extraordinary cruelty and the real horrors people have been facing." The targeted destruction went beyond random violence to specifically eliminate livestock enclosures, farming equipment, and infrastructure essential for food production.
"People were at the brink of starvation and objects indispensable to their survival were being destroyed," says Dannenbaum. "This was not merely attacking villages but deliberately preventing communities from producing food."
From Janjaweed to RSF: A Pattern of Violence
The violence traces back to the 2000s when the Janjaweed militia, drawn from Arab pastoralist communities, competed with non-Arab farming communities for land in government-backed attacks that killed an estimated 300,000 people. The RSF, successor to the Janjaweed, has continued this pattern while gaining enough power to wage war against the Sudanese army.
Yasser Abdul Latif, a teacher from the village of Jughmar near Ammar Jadid, witnessed the escalation firsthand. "We heard gunshots and everyone started running," he recalls of the March 2024 attack that killed two villagers and forced the community to flee. "The next day they started to burn Ammar Jadid, Jughmar and so many villages."
Broader Implications for Sudan and Beyond
Nathaniel Raymond, HRL's executive director, explains the strategic purpose: "They ripped out the breadbasket of El-Fasher as an intentional strategy to starve the city." During the subsequent 18-month siege, the RSF prevented food, water, and medicine from entering El Fasher while constructing a 19-mile earthen berm to trap civilians.
The UN human rights council has documented similar patterns, stating that RSF attacks on El Fasher bore the "hallmarks of genocide" against non-Arab communities including the Zaghawa and Fur. The International Criminal Court has been investigating genocide in Darfur since the 2000s.
Expanding Humanitarian Crisis
The starvation strategy has created devastating consequences:
- El Fasher and Kadugli have been declared famine zones with sorghum prices 1,000% higher than pre-war levels
- In Blue Nile state, farmers cannot access their land, leaving crops unharvested
- Aid convoys face attacks, including a February drone strike that killed four people trying to reach Kadugli
- The RSF now controls all of Darfur's main cities and continues siege tactics in Kordofan region
Hathaway emphasizes that the HRL research provides "a unique level of fine-grained, over-time analysis documenting exactly what was attacked" that could be submitted in criminal prosecutions. The same remote sensing techniques could investigate war crimes in other conflict zones like Gaza and Ethiopia.
Raymond warns of the broader implications: "This report is quantitative proof of RSF's intent to prevent those they perceive as enemies from feeding themselves. What this means for Sudan is clear: what happened here can happen again." Unless the RSF is investigated and held accountable, experts fear similar starvation strategies will be employed against other vulnerable communities.
