Following a massacre of refugees in Darfur, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) reported a massive increase in human rights violations and violence in Darfur. "We are deeply concerned about the fact that there has been a significant increase in attacks on refugees and their legal counseling teams in Darfur in July 2020. Even 17 years after the beginning of the genocide, the region is still not at peace," stated Ulrich Delius, the STP's Director, in Göttingen on Sunday.

The STP demanded efforts to investigate the massacre in the province of South Darfur, in which at least 20 people were killed last Thursday, as has now become known. The attack was aimed at a group of refugees who had only recently returned to their traditional land, from which they had been displaced during the genocide. There were two women and several children among the victims of the attack, and at least 25 people were injured. Heavily armed camel riders had attacked the returnees in the village of Abdos, about a hundred kilometers to the south of the provincial capital Nyala.

"This is a serious setback for the reconstruction of Darfur, which is also supported by Germany. The message to refugees who want to return is clear: you are not safe in Darfur!" Delius criticized. Militias and criminal gangs are now in control of the refugees' land – and they are ignoring a recently found agreement according to which returnees are to be granted protection.

It was only on July 13, 2020, that ten Darfuris were killed in an attack on a protest camp in Fata Borno (North Darfur province). In the same month, 32 Darfur activists and members of legal teams were arrested. "The survivors are traumatized by the violence and the human rights violations – and they get the impression that there is no justice," Delius warned. The human rights organization demanded that the civilian population must be protected, as it would be impossible to get on with the reconstruction without security.