RSF is responsible for massacre in Sudan’s Gezira state

At least 150 people, including 35 children, are believed to have died in a massacre in a village in central Sudan. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting against the army, are to blame.

The rivals have been fighting for control of the country for more than 13 months.

The RSF has not commented on the allegations, but boasted on Thursday that it had attacked two army positions.

Following Wednesday’s raid, images circulated on social media showing dozens of bodies wrapped in white shrouds being prepared for burial in Wad al-Nourah in Gezira state.

The video was filmed by activists from a neighborhood resistance committee, part of a nationwide network of local groups supporting a return to civilian rule.

The Madani Resistance Committee said it was now “waiting for a confirmed number of dead and injured.”

According to Unicef, 35 children were killed and more than 20 others injured in the attack. The organization’s executive director, Catherine Russell, described the scenes on the ground as devastating.

“This is another grim reminder of how Sudan’s children are paying the price for brutal violence,” Ms Russell said in a statement.

According to Ms Russell, thousands of children have been killed and injured in the past year, more than five million have been driven from their homes, and others have been recruited, kidnapped and raped.

The circumstances of Wednesday’s killings remain unclear – it is alleged that the village was attacked twice by RSF fighters that day.

Hafiz Mohamad of leading human rights group Justice Africa Sudan told the BBC that many more people were still missing but it was “difficult to count all the dead” as “RSF elements are still roaming and looting in the area”.

The Sudanese military government has called for international condemnation of the attack on Wad al-Nourah.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned the “attack on innocent people” in a post on X and blamed RSF for it.

“The RSF must stop these attacks,” Cameron wrote. “The world is watching. Those responsible will be held to account.”

The RSF took control of Gezira state, south of the capital Khartoum, in December and is accused of committing numerous human rights violations against the civilian population there, which the RSF denies.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting between the RSF and the military continues in El Fasher, a town in Darfur in the west of the country.

Across the country, an estimated 15,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in April 2023.

Several rounds of peace talks failed to end the war, which began with the rift between the two generals at the head of the army and the RSF.

According to UN agencies, the fighting has triggered the world’s largest refugee crisis and millions of people are facing famine as a result.

Martin Griffiths, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said this week that up to five million people were likely at risk of famine.

“I don’t think so many people have ever been threatened by famine,” he said, adding: “This conflict could have been avoided.”

“It is a place where two men decided to settle their differences through fighting and destroy their country,” Griffiths said.