KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Tuesday killed at least 17 civilians in northern Khartoum, medical sources told AFP news agency, further exacerbating the ongoing conflict between rival generals. The United Nations has warned that the nation is being torn apart by this protracted conflict.
Eyewitnesses reported that the RSF shelled the Karary district of Omdurman, which is part of greater Khartoum and has been a hotspot of clashes between the RSF and the regular army. A medical source confirmed the death toll of “17 civilians” in the attack.
The conflict, which began on April 15, has now entered its fifth month, with no resolution in sight. The fighting is primarily between the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, nearly 7,500 people have lost their lives in Sudan since the conflict began. In the past week alone, more than 103 civilians have been killed during military operations in Khartoum and Omdurman, as reported by UN human rights chief Volker Turk during an address to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The situation escalated further on Sunday when at least 51 people were killed and numerous others were wounded in air strikes on a southern Khartoum market, making it one of the deadliest single attacks since the conflict started.
Activists have highlighted that many bodies remain unidentified, and several individuals who were killed or are missing from their families have been buried in shallow graves by volunteers.
Sudan Conflict and Civilians’ Sufferings
Diplomatic efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire have repeatedly failed, and the violence continues unabated. Civilians are enduring extreme suffering, with reports of family members being killed or raped, relatives being arrested without cause, missing loved ones, and an alarming rise in hunger.
The conflict has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, already one of the world’s poorest countries. The UN has now raised concerns that six million people are on the brink of famine.
Volker Turk has also called for accountability for violations committed by both sides, including “widespread arbitrary detention,” with hundreds, possibly thousands, being held incommunicado in appalling conditions.
Additionally, the war has forcibly displaced more than five million people, with one million of them seeking refuge in neighboring countries, according to United Nations figures.
