A recent report from the Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health has provided evidence of alleged body disposal in El-Geneia, West Darfur, Sudan. The findings, which were released on September 14, could potentially be used as evidence of genocide.

The report details the dumping of light-toned objects, believed to be body bags containing human remains, at a site that has been reported as a mass grave. Using data from open-source and publicly available sources, such as social media posts and satellite images, the report confirms eyewitness accounts from humanitarian volunteers who witnessed bodies being dumped into the surrounding water of El-Geneia.

Kaveh Khoshnood, the faculty director of the HRL at Yale, emphasized the importance of documenting and raising awareness about the situation in Sudan. He stated that the report is crucial for policymakers to make informed decisions on the matter.

The HRL’s executive director, Nataniel Raymond, highlighted that the violence in Sudan is rooted in a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization in Sudan. He also noted that the RSF has been responsible for ethnically-based killings of non-Arab communities, particularly the Masalit and Burgo tribes in West Darfur.

While the report does not explicitly identify the responsible parties for the alleged grave sites, the researchers point out that the timing of their findings aligns with credible accounts that indicate the RSF has been involved in massacres of Sudanese citizens and ethnic violence against non-Arab communities.

The HRL operates as part of the State Department’s Conflict Observatory program, and their work aims to shed light on humanitarian crises and contribute to informed decision-making by policymakers. The report on the body disposal in Darfur underscores the urgent need for attention and action to address the ongoing crisis in Sudan.