KHARTOUM — More than 200 people, including women and children, were killed in ethnically motivated attacks carried out by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in parts of Darfur, according to a statement issued Saturday by the Sudan Doctors Network.
The network said it documented the killings based on testimonies from survivors who reached displacement camps in Tina, near the Sudan-Chad border.
Civilians were targeted on an ethnic basis in the areas of Ambro and Abu Qamra in North Darfur and Sirba in West Darfur, it said.
“The victims included children, women and men who were deliberately targeted and killed on ethnic grounds,” the statement said, describing the attacks as grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
The reported killings came amid intensified fighting in North Darfur. The Joint Force of Armed Movements, which is allied with the Sudanese army, said Thursday that its fighters repelled RSF assaults on several locations in the area.
In a statement, the joint force accused the RSF of escalating attacks against unarmed civilians, particularly in and around Abu Qamra, in an effort to impose control through killings, forced displacement, and intimidation of residents and displaced people who fled El-Fasher.
Local sources said RSF fighters attacked Abu Qamra and Ambro on Wednesday. The RSF, however, claimed it had taken control of both areas.
The joint force said RSF fighters burned villages, looted livestock and civilian property, and committed what it described as serious abuses against residents.
Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls most of the five states in the Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control.
The Sudanese army holds much of the remaining territory across the south, north, east and central regions, including the capital, Khartoum.
The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 and has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. — Agencies
