More than 400 people have been killed in recent attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Darfur region, according to sources cited by the UN.
The UN also said ahead of an international conference in London on ways to halt the war that 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict now entering a third year, which has left tens of thousands dead.
The conflict since April 15, 2023, pits the regular army of Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
Photo: AP
The RSF has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on refugee camps around El-Fasher as it bids to seize the last major Darfur city not under its control.
Since last week, the RSF has launched ground and air assaults on El-Fasher, and the nearby Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps.
Between Thursday and Saturday last week, the UN rights office “verified 148 killings,” spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.
“But this is very much an underestimate as our verification work is ongoing,” she said, adding that the number did not include fighting on Sunday. “Credible sources have reported more than 400 killed.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement decried the “large-scale attacks” and the lack of action by the international community.
“Hundreds of civilians, including at least nine humanitarian workers, were reportedly killed,” he said.
Separately, a UN refugee agency official said that the conflict has displaced 13 million people, including 8.6 million internally displaced people and 3.8 million refugees.
About 400,000 people have fled the Zamzam camp in Darfur because of the latest fighting, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration said.
The RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher since the army regained control of the capital, Khartoum, about 1,000km to the east, last month.
The war has effectively divided Sudan in two, with the army holding the north and east, while the RSF controls much of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.
With the conflict entering its third year yesterday, Turk called on all parties “to take meaningful steps towards resolving the conflict.”
The warring sides would not be at yesterday’s London ministerial conference aiming to clear a path to peace in Sudan.
The Sudanese government has protested that it was not invited to the meeting, cohosted by the UK, Germany, France, the EU and the African Union.
The German Foreign Office has said that the Sudanese army, which dominates the government, and the RSF militia were unwilling to come to the table.
“This conference will bring together the international community to agree a pathway to end the suffering,” British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy said.
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