At least 200 killed in three-day Sudan paramilitary assault

Sudanese paramilitaries killed more than 200 people in a three-day assault south of Khartoum, a lawyers’ network said Tuesday, as the army-backed government put the death toll at more than twice that.

The Emergency Lawyers network, which has documented human rights abuses during 22 months of fighting between the rival security forces, said hundreds more were wounded or missing and feared drowned after the paramilitaries opened fire on villagers as they attempted to flee across the White Nile.

The foreign ministry of the army-backed government said a total of 433 people, including children, had been killed in the attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The attack on the White Nile state villages of Al-Kadaris and Al-Khelwat, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital, sent thousands fleeing, witnesses told AFP.

A spokesperson for UN chief Antonio Guterres said the world body had received “horrifying reports that dozens of women were raped and hundreds of families were forced to flee”.

Emergency Lawyers said that for three days RSF fighters had subjected unarmed civilians to “executions, kidnappings, forced disappearances and looting”.

Since the war broke out in April 2023, both the army and the paramilitaries have been accused of war crimes.

The RSF also stands accused of genocide by the United States for allegedly targeting non-Arab minorities in the Darfur region of western Sudan with summary executions and systematic sexual violence.

The war has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million and created what the International Rescue Committee has called the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded”.

‘Bodies lying on the streets’

Control over White Nile state, which extends from just south of Khartoum to the South Sudanese border, is currently divided by the warring parties.

The army controls the south, including state capital Rabak, as well as two major cities and a key military base.

The RSF holds the northern parts of the state, including the villages where the latest attacks took place.

A medical source told AFP Monday it was nearly impossible to confirm a toll.

“Some bodies are still lying in the street, and some were killed in their homes and no one can reach them,” the source said, requesting anonymity for safety reasons.

Fighting has intensified across Sudan in recent weeks as the army presses an attempt to reclaim full control of the capital from the paramilitaries.

On Tuesday, the Emergency Lawyers accused the army of “barbaric” assaults on civilians in east Khartoum, days after its paramilitary foes killed six civilians in the area.

The lawyers’ network said that civilians in East Nile district accused of collaborating with the RSF had been subjected to “killings, forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests” by individuals linked to the army.

The United Nations children’s agency said children in Khartoum were trapped in “a living nightmare” of indiscriminate shooting, looting and forced displacement.

UNICEF said it had also received alarming reports of families being separated, with children abducted and subjected to sexual violence.

Arms embargo

The UN human rights office said “entrenched impunity” had fuelled gross human rights violations across Sudan.

“Continued and deliberate attacks” on civilians including “summary executions, sexual violence and other violations and abuses underscore the utter failure” by both sides to respect international humanitarian law, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The UN also called for the expansion of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction and a longstanding arms embargo to cover all of Sudan instead of just Darfur.

The vast western region, home to around a quarter of Sudan’s population, has seen escalating violence in recent weeks as the RSF seeks to consolidate its hold.

The paramilitary group has intensified attacks on North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, the only major city in Darfur it does not control.

The UN says thousands of families have fled from RSF attacks on villages around the city.

Last Tuesday, it stormed the nearby Zamzam displacement camp, which has suffered a months-long famine under RSF siege.

The famine has since taken hold in five areas of the country, according to a UN-backed assessment, and is expected to spread to five more including El-Fasher itself by May.

Across Sudan, eight million people are on the brink of starvation, while nearly 25 million — around half of the population — suffer dire food insecurity.