More than 120 killed in paramilitary violence in east-central Sudan, UN, doctors’ group say

Cairo: Notorious paramilitary fighters rapid aid force rioted in the east-central Sudan A doctors group and the United Nations said a multi-day attack killed more than 120 people in one city.
This was the group’s latest attack against the Sudanese people. military After suffering several setbacks, the army was defeated in the field. More than a year and a half of war has devastated the African country, displacing millions of its population and pushing it to the brink of total famine.
RSF fighters unleashed violence on villages and towns on the eastern and northern sides of Gezira province between October 20-25, firing on civilians and sexually assaulting women and girls, the UN said in a statement on Saturday. Looted private and public properties including open markets.
According to the International Organization for Migration’s tracking metrics, the attack displaced more than 4,000 people in the town of Tambiük and other villages in eastern Gezira.
“The killings and appalling human rights violations in Gezira province have compounded the unacceptable human impact of this conflict on the people of Sudan.” IOM Director General Amy Pope told The Associated Press ahead of her visit to the country next week.
He called for concerted international efforts to stop the conflict, saying, “There is no time to lose. Millions of lives are at risk.”
“These are brutal crimes,” Clementine Nqueta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement Saturday. “Women, children and the most vulnerable are bearing the brunt of a conflict that has already taken many lives.”
He said that these attacks resemble the horrors carried out during Darfur Genocide in the early 2000s, which included rape, sexual violence, and mass killings.
The RSF was born out of the Arab militias, commonly known as the Janjaweed, organized by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir against the Central or East African population in Darfur. At the time, the Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities and Darfur became synonymous with the genocide. Janjaweed groups still assist RSF.
The Sudanese Doctors Union said in a statement that at least 124 people were killed and 200 others were wounded in the city of Sariha, with the group arresting at least 150 others. It called on the UN Security Council to pressure RSF to open “safe corridors” so aid groups can reach people in affected villages.
“There is no way to help the injured or evacuate them for treatment,” the statement said.
Footage circulating online, some of which has been shared by RSF fighters themselves, shows members of the paramilitary group abusing detainees. A video shows a man dressed in military uniform grabbing an old man’s chin and dragging him around, while other armed men chant slogans in the background.
RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces, a coalition of pro-democracy parties and groups, also accused the RSF of attacking villages and opening fire on civilians, as well as rounding up and mistreating “a large number of residents”.
In a statement, the coalition held RSF “responsible for these gross violations” and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
The attack on Gezira came after the army had successfully retaken areas held by the RSF.
In September, the army launched a large-scale operation in and around the capital, Khartoum, retaking large areas from RSF control. Also, earlier this month, it took control of Jebel Moya, a strategic mountainous area in Gezira province, as well as areas of Gezira and nearby Sinnar province, driving out RSF forces.
In October, Abu Aqlah Keikel, a top RSF commander who was the de facto ruler of Gezira, rebelled and surrendered himself to the army.
According to local reports, RSF fighters moved to attack villages and towns in Gezira considered loyal to Keykel.
The war in Sudan began in April 2023 when rising tensions between the army and the RSF escalated into open fighting in Khartoum before spreading throughout the country.
The war has been marked by atrocities such as mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. The United Nations and international rights groups say these acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, which is facing a tough attack from the RSF.
More than 24,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group that tracks the conflict since it began.