Sudanese paramilitary forces have carried out ethnic cleansing in Darfur, rights group says

By FATMA KHALED
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — A leading rights group says attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces and their allied militias that killed thousands in the western region of Darfur last year constitute a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the area’s non-Arab population. A new report by Human Rights Watch was released on Thursday, covering the period between April and November last year and focusing on the Masalit tribe in West Darfur, one of Darfur’s five federal states. The year-long war in Sudan has also engulfed Darfur with brutal attacks by the paramilitary on African civilians, especially the ethnic Masalit. Thousands were killed and hundreds of thousands were displaced during the attacks.