Sudan – The United Nations expressed its concern regarding reports of the use of “heavy weapons” in the fighting in the Sudanese city of El Fasher between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkwita Salami, said that civilians were injured and were taken to El Fasher Hospital, while “other civilians found themselves caught in the middle of violent battles while trying to flee” from the city located in the Darfur region.
Salami added that “the use of heavy weapons and launching attacks in densely populated areas in the center of El Fasher and its environs” are causing “many casualties,” calling on “all parties” to spare the city from fighting.
The El Fasher Resistance Committee, a gathering of a number of Sudanese activists, reported the day before yesterday, Friday, that “violent clashes” broke out between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher, North Darfur state, western Sudan.
According to the committee, the bombers and heavy artillery fell “randomly into citizens’ homes, and led to civilian casualties, some of which reached the southern hospital in the city,” without specifying the nature of the casualties.
The UN official stressed that these acts of violence “threaten the lives of more than 800,000 people living” in the city.
Since early April, El Fasher has witnessed clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which launched massive attacks on villages west of the city.
El Fasher is the capital of North Darfur State and the center of the Darfur region, which consists of 5 states, and its largest city. It is the only one among the capitals of the other states of the region that did not fall to the Rapid Support Forces.
Armed movements that signed the Juba peace agreement with the government in 2020 are fighting alongside the Sudanese army in El Fasher, led by the Sudan Liberation Forces, led by Minni Arko Minawi, and the Justice and Equality Movement, led by Jibril Ibrahim.
The city contains a large number of refugees, and has so far remained safe from battles, but the surrounding villages have been witnessing battles since mid-April.
A few days ago, Human Rights Watch accused the Rapid Support Forces of committing “ethnic cleansing” and killings, “which may indicate that genocide has occurred or is occurring” once morest the Masalit tribe in the city of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.
Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces have been fighting a war that has left regarding 15,000 dead and more than 8 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.
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2024-05-12 14:51:01
