Over 100 dead in rebel attack on village in Sudan – World

PORT SUDAN: A Sudanese committee of pro-democracy activists reported on Thursday “more than 104” dead in a single day when paramilitary forces attacked a village, while the UN warned of mass displacement and famine.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, attacked the central village of Wad al-Noura in al-Jazira state on Wednesday “in two waves” with heavy artillery, the Madani Resistance Committee said.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the feared paramilitaries had “raided the village”, resulting in dozens of casualties and widespread displacement.

The attack “claimed more than 104 martyred lives” and “left hundreds injured,” said the committee, one of hundreds of similar grassroots groups in Sudan, adding that the victims were reached through “initial communication with villagers.”

UN warns: Number of internally displaced people could exceed the ten million mark within a few days

The UN coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said she was “shocked by reports of violent attacks and a high number of casualties” in the village.

She called for an investigation and that “those responsible be held accountable.”

“Human tragedy has become a hallmark of life in Sudan. We must not allow impunity to be another example of this,” she added.

On social media, the committee posted footage of an alleged “mass grave” in the public square, showing rows of white shrouds spread out in a courtyard.

In just over a year, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, including up to 15,000 in a single town in West Darfur.

Toll unclear

However, the total death toll is still unclear, with some estimates putting the number as high as 150,000, according to US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello. The RSF has repeatedly besieged and attacked entire villages across the country and is notorious for widespread looting and sexual and ethnic violence.

In a statement, the RSF said it had attacked three army camps in the Wad al-Noura region and clashed with the enemy “outside the city.” The Resistance Committee called the RSF’s statement an “expected” attempt to “criminalize the people of Wad al-Noura and brand them as a legitimate target.”

It also said the villagers had “asked the armed forces for help, but they did not respond.” The military has not issued an official statement, but the ruling Sudanese Sovereignty Council, headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, called Wednesday’s attack a “heinous massacre of defenseless civilians.”

Sudanese civilians have repeatedly accused the army of “abandoning” them and retreating in the face of RSF offensives, particularly in Al-Jazira and the western Darfur region.

Both the army and the RSF – under the command of Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo – are accused of war crimes, including targeted attacks on civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and looting or obstructing humanitarian aid.

‘War crimes’

The Emergency Lawyers, a pro-democracy group of volunteers who document the atrocities of war, on Thursday called the attack on Wad al-Noura a “war crime” and called on the international community to “put pressure” on both sides to abide by international law.

The UN migration agency warned on Thursday that the number of internally displaced people in Sudan could “exceed the ten million mark” within a few days.

Since the war began, more than seven million people have fled their homes to other parts of Sudan. In addition, there are 2.8 million people who have already been forced to leave their homes as a result of previous conflicts in the war-torn country of 48 million inhabitants.

“The world’s worst internal displacement crisis continues to worsen, with the devastation caused by conflict compounded by the threat of famine and disease,” the International Organization for Migration said in a statement.

In Sudan, 70 percent of the displaced people are trying to “survive in places where famine is imminent,” it continues. According to the UN, 18 million people in Sudan are suffering from acute hunger, and 3.6 million children are acutely malnourished.

There has been severe hunger in the country for months, and aid organizations say that due to a lack of data, an official famine could not be declared.

If the current humanitarian situation continues, 2.5 million people could die of starvation by the end of September, according to recent estimates by the Dutch think tank Clingendael Institute. This figure affects “about 15 percent of the population in Darfur and Kordofan,” the vast western and southern regions of the country where some of the worst fighting has taken place, according to the institute.

The UN accuses both sides of “systematic obstruction and deliberate denial” of humanitarian access.

Published in Dawn, June 7, 2024