Sudan: Hundreds killed, thousands displaced after RSF attacks

More than 100 people have been killed, and thousands displaced in Sudan’s North Darfur state as fighting escalates between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese army-aligned groups, according to reports by The New Arab and agencies on January 17th.

For several days, areas of northern North Darfur along the border with Chad have seen sustained clashes between the two sides, with the RSF paramilitaries launching attacks on Amro, Al‑Tina and Karnoi in an effort to seize control.

The Al‑Tina local emergency room said in a statement that a series of RSF attacks between December 22nd and January 16th targeted the locality and surrounding areas, killing more than 103 civilians and injuring 88 others.

The relief committee issued an urgent appeal to regional and international humanitarian organisations, warning that conditions in Al‑Tina and neighbouring towns and villages in North Darfur are rapidly deteriorating.

Several villages within the area have been burned, the relief committee said, triggering 18,000 civilians to flee.

Additionally, at least 575 people were displaced from the cities of Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan between January 15th and 17th, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on January 18th.

The two cities have been under siege by the RSF and their ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), since the early months of the conflict. They have also been subjected to frequent artillery and drone attacks.

The IOM said the displaced people had moved toward White Nile State in southern Sudan, an area that has been under full Sudanese army control since May last year. It added that conditions in South Kordofan “remain tense and volatile,” noting that its field teams “will continue to closely monitor developments.”

On January 5th, the IOM reported that the number of internally displaced people across the three states, North, West, and South Kordofan, had risen to 64,890 between October 25th and December 30th.

The Kordofan states have been a major battleground in Sudan’s civil war, owing to their strategic proximity to Darfur and access to lucrative oil fields. Numerous clashes have erupted there in recent years, killing hundreds and forcing at least 64,000 people from their homes.

The RSF now controls all five Darfur state capitals in western Sudan, along with most of North and West Kordofan.

The civil war erupted in April 2023 after a power struggle between the RSF’s head, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, and Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese army.

Tens of thousands have been killed since, while millions are grappling with food insecurity and collapsing public services. The United Nations and aid agencies now describe Sudan as one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

 

The New Arab staff and agencies, Maghrebi.org