South Sudan bishop: Warring factors are “stealing peace and stealing resources”

Bishop Christian Carlassare of Benitu in South Sudan has decried the escalating war in Sudan, particularly the carnage in El Fasher, describing it as “a tragedy.”

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Hemedti, have long set their sights on El Fasher—the last Darfur stronghold held by their rivals, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). On 26 October, the RSF conquered the city after an 18-month siege. The battle for the city is a critical front in a devastating war that has raged between the two factions since their coalition government fell apart in 2023.

Various humanitarian organizations say at least 2000 people have been killed in the city, and more than 150,000 people have lost their lives.

In an October 30 statement, Bishop Carlassare said the tragedy was unfolding even as the international community stayed silent. He said the attackers are stealing twice from their victims.

“They are stealing peace and then the natural resources. We are witnessing the exploitation of these resources to continue the conflict,” he said.

Describing what’s going on in the city as a ’genocidal slaughter,” the cleric urged the international media to “talk more about the people of Sudan.”

“It is a tragedy,” he emphasized. He cited an analysis by The New Humanitarian, authored by Darfur-based journalist and rights monitor Ahmed Gouja, which described the situation as “mass killings on a devastating scale, potentially the worst seen in Sudan’s more than two-and-a-half-year war.”

To support this claim, the analysis presented evidence from several videos. One reportedly showed militiamen moving through a building where dozens of bodies were strewn on the floor, checking that no one was still alive.

Another recording depicted an apparent sole survivor being shot dead. A second video showed fighters shouting cries of victory amidst a scene of corpses in the sand and burning vehicles, presumed to be escape vehicles. A third video depicted fighters forcing six men to lie face down, kicking one in the head, and verbally abusing them by calling them slaves and ordering them to bleat like sheep.

The report notes that nearly 500 people were killed at the city’s only partially functioning hospital and claims that “the killings have been so extensive that blood and dead bodies are now visible from space.”

The Institute for Security Studies, in a November 6 report, stated that “most of the city’s 1.5 million people, including many displaced, face famine, forcing them to rely on animal feed to survive.”

 Both sides have been accused of deliberately obstructing aid delivery, using starvation as a weapon of war.

“What makes matters worse is that the crimes committed in El Fasher were long telegraphed and long foreseen: For more than 500 days, the RSF subjected the city to a brutal siege in an attempt to dislodge the national army–supported by allied armed groups–from its last major holdout in Darfur,” reports the New Humanitarian.

“It is a forgotten war because the people are really forgotten,” said Bishop Carlassare in his October 30 statement.

The Italian-born member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) accused the international community of turning a blind eye to what’s going on in Darfur. He also accused weapons merchants of cashing in on the blood of the Sudanese people. To fund the war, the warring parties exploit the rich natural resources of the Northeastern African nation, particularly gold.

“They are stealing twice from the people. They are stealing peace and then the natural resources. We are witnessing the exploitation of these resources to continue the conflict,” the cleric said.

In comments to CWR, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio Diocese in South Sudan, who is also the spokesperson for the Bishops’ Conference of Sudan and South Sudan, talked about people “trapped in the middle of nowhere” as they are unable to escape the carnage.

“Some of our beloved have been killed, many wounded, and countless others, especially the elderly, women, children, and the disabled, are in desperate conditions,” he said.

He called on the warring parties to cease the fighting and “respect human life.”

“Violence only deepens wounds and dishonors the dignity of our people. Our land cries out for peace, reconciliation, and the respect of every human person created in the image of God,” he told CWR.

In the face of the worsening violence, Pope Leo XIV has pleaded for peace and dialogue. After reciting the November 2 Angelus, the Holy Father then offered a special prayer for the victims of war in el-Fasher, capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state.

“Indiscriminate violence against women and children, attacks on unarmed civilians and serious obstacles to humanitarian aid are causing unbearable suffering for a population already exhausted by long months of conflict,” the pope said.

“Let us pray that the Lord may receive the deceased with his embrace, strengthen those who are suffering, and move the hearts of those responsible,” he said.

He called on “all parties involved to agree to a ceasefire and to urgently open humanitarian corridors.”

The Holy Father further urged the international community to “act with determination and generosity, to provide assistance and to support those working tirelessly to bring relief.”

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has opened investigations into possibilities of violations of international humanitarian law after reports by the UN spoke of “credible reports of summary executions of non-armed civilians” and of the “summary executions of civilians as they try and flee the fighting.”

“The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court expresses its profound alarm and deepest concern over recent reports emerging from El-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes allegedly committed during the course of the Rapid Support Forces’ (RSF) attacks,” the ICC Office of the Prosecutor said in a statement on November 3.

“These atrocities are part of a broader pattern of violence that has afflicted the entire Darfur region since April 2023. Such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” the statement said.

Bishop Carlassare told OSV News that the Church won’t stay silent in the face of the worsening crisis.

“The church could make the Sudanese situation more and more known, especially since the people are living in misery, suffering poverty, and lacking most basic services,” he said.

On October 2, Catholic movements, including the Denis Hurley Peace Institute of the South Africa Bishops’ Conference and various religious entities, joined more than 100 civil society organizations and humanitarian actors in calling for the protection of civilians in El Fasher.

“Time is running out for the estimated 260,000 civilians, including 130,000 children, trapped in El Fasher, Darfur’s final battleground between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF),” the statement said.

“We, the undersigned civil society organizations and humanitarian actors, urgently call for safe humanitarian access, including voluntary evacuation routes for the civilians trapped in El Fasher. Evacuation routes need to be secured without delay to provide civilians in El Fasher safe, voluntary, and dignified passage.”