Addis Ababa (Exclusive): Troops from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are increasingly visible in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, raising security concerns among local residents who say the presence of the paramilitary group has expanded in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents told Horn Frequency that RSF fighters were initially seen only on major roads while being transported through the area. However, they said the fighters are now moving more openly among local communities, particularly in the Kurmuk area of Benishangul-Gumuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several residents alleged that RSF fighters have been involved in incidents of rape, killings and other human rights abuses against civilians in the border area. Horn Frequency could not independently verify the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Locally, residents refer to the RSF fighters as “Janjaweed,” a reference to the Arab militias accused of atrocities during the Darfur conflict. According to witnesses, the fighters were previously transported in pickup trucks and on motorcycles between Ethiopia and the Sudanese border but are now moving more freely inside Ethiopian territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents said the growing presence of the RSF has heightened fears among communities, particularly as reports of sexual violence and other abuses emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The developments come amid increasing insecurity along the Ethiopia-Sudan border. In recent weeks, drone strikes in the area have reportedly affected Ethiopian civilians living near the frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents warned that similar incidents could occur again and that the alleged human rights violations could further escalate if the security situation deteriorates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local residents also said RSF fighters are using large amounts of Ethiopian birr, which they claim has contributed to cash shortages in local banks and disrupted economic activity in Kurmuk and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As fighting between Sudan’s warring parties continues near the border, residents said growing numbers of Ethiopians are fleeing the area out of fear for their safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Addis Ababa (Exclusive): Troops from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are increasingly visible in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, raising security concerns among local residents who say the presence of the paramilitary group has expanded in recent months. Residents told Horn Frequency that RSF fighters were initially seen only on major roads while being transported through the area. However, they said the fighters are now moving more openly among local communities, particularly in the Kurmuk area of Benishangul-Gumuz. Several residents alleged that RSF fighters have been involved in incidents of rape, killings and other human rights abuses against civilians in the border area. Horn Frequency could not independently verify the allegations. Locally, residents refer to the RSF fighters as “Janjaweed,” a reference to the Arab militias accused of atrocities during the Darfur conflict. According to witnesses, the fighters were previously transported in pickup trucks and on motorcycles between Ethiopia and the Sudanese border but are now moving more freely inside Ethiopian territory. Residents said the growing presence of the RSF has heightened fears among communities, particularly as reports of sexual violence and other abuses emerge. The developments come amid increasing insecurity along the Ethiopia-Sudan border. In recent weeks, drone strikes in the area have reportedly affected Ethiopian civilians living near the frontier. Residents warned that similar incidents could occur again and that the alleged human rights violations could further escalate if the security situation deteriorates. Local residents also said RSF fighters are using large amounts of Ethiopian birr, which they claim has contributed to cash shortages in local banks and disrupted economic activity in Kurmuk and surrounding areas. As fighting between Sudan’s warring parties continues near the border, residents said growing numbers of Ethiopians are fleeing the area out of fear for their safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[80,55,78,79],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-social","tag-benishangul-gumuz","tag-ethiopia","tag-rsf","tag-sudan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1119,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions\/1119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornfrequency.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}