Paramilitary forces attack a military-controlled town in central Sudan, opening a new front

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CAIRO (AP) — Heavy fighting broke out between Sudan’s military and a notorious paramilitary group in a central province town, officials said Sunday, opening another front in a 14-month war that has brought the African country to the brink of famine.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began their offensive in Sennar province earlier this week, attacking the village of Jebal Moya before advancing on the town of Singa, the provincial capital, where new fighting broke out.

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RSF fighters in pickup trucks armed with automatic rifles rampaged through Singa, about 350 kilometers southeast of the capital Khartoum, over the weekend, residents and a local human rights group said. They looted residents’ homes, shops at a local market and occupied the city’s largest hospital, it said.

The group claimed in a statement on Saturday that it had occupied the military’s main facility, the headquarters of the 17th Infantry Division in Singa. Local media also reported that the RSF had managed to break through the military’s defenses.

However, Brigadier General Nabil Abdalla, a spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces, said the military had regained control of the facility and fighting was still taking place on Sunday morning. Neither claim could be independently confirmed.

According to the UN International Organization for Migration, at least 327 households in Jebal Moya and Singa have had to flee to safer areas. “The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” it said in a statement.

Residents reported widespread looting of homes and businesses in Singa by RSF fighters, who stole private vehicles, mobile phones, jewelry and other valuables.

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“They behaved the same way as in (the capital) Khartoum and other cities,” said Abdel-Rahman al-Taj, a resident of Singa who fled to Blue Nile province on Saturday. “Many people were killed, wounded or arrested.”

According to the local human rights organization Sennar Observatory for Human Rights, the RSF attacked the Singa Educational Hospital and held dozens of patients and medical staff as “human shields.” The fighters turned the hospital into a military center, which “clearly violates international human rights law.”

A doctor at the hospital said RSF fighters, some in vehicles, had surrounded the courtyard and corridors of the facility. “The situation is extremely dangerous,” said the doctor, who asked not to be identified for his safety. “We are working at gunpoint.”

He added that the hospital had admitted dozens of injured people from Singa and surrounding areas over the past three days.

RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The paramilitary group has been repeatedly accused of committing serious human rights abuses across the country since the war began in April last year, when simmering tensions between the military and RSF spilled over into open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere.

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The fighting in Sennar comes as attention is focused on al-Fasher, a major city in the vast Darfur region that the RSF has been besieging for months in an attempt to wrest it from the military. Al-Fasher is the military’s last stronghold in Darfur.

According to the United Nations, more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured in the devastating conflict. However, human rights activists believe the death toll could be much higher.

The world’s largest refugee crisis has emerged, forcing more than 11 million people to flee their homes. International experts warned on Thursday that 755,000 people would face famine in the coming months and 8.5 million people would be affected by extreme food shortages.

The conflict is marked by numerous reports of sexual violence and other atrocities – especially in Darfur, where a genocide took place in the early 2000s. Human rights groups say the atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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