Over 400 killed in Darfur paramilitary attacks: UN

DARFUS: 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 United Nations.

The United Nations 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 in all.

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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.

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 “has verified 148 killings”, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told AFP.

“But this is very much an underestimate as our verification work is ongoing,” she said, stressing that the number did not include fighting on Sunday. “Credible sources have reported more than 400 killed.”

UN rights chief Volker Turk decried in a statement that 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, highlighting how El-Fasher has been under siege since May.

Separately, a UN refugee agency official told AFP the conflict has displaced 13 million people, including 8.6 million internally displaced people and 3.8 million refugees.

According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, about 400,000 people have fled the Zamzam camp in Darfur because of the latest fighting.

The RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher since the army regained control of the capital Khartoum, about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) 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 on Tuesday, the UN’s Turk called on all parties “to take meaningful steps towards resolving the conflict”.

The warring sides will not be at a London ministerial conference on Tuesday aiming to clear a path to peace in Sudan.

The Sudanese government has protested that it was not invited to the meeting, co-hosted by Britain, Germany, France, the European Union and the African Union.

But the German foreign ministry has said both the Sudanese army, which dominates the government, and the RSF militia were unwilling to come to the table.

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“This conference will bring together the international community to agree a pathway to end the suffering,” said Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy ahead of the London meeting.