PORT SUDAN: Clashes between Sudanese paramilitaries and the regular army have killed at least 57 civilians in the besieged Darfur city of El Fasher, a medical source and a volunteer aid group said. The local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group, said the civilians were killed in clashes and shelling of the city by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023. The violence came just days after the RSF killed over 400 people in attacks on North Darfur's capital of El Fasher and nearby displacement camps, according to the United Nations. El Fasher, which the RSF has besieged for nearly a year, is the last major urban stronghold in Darfur still under army control and a strategic target for the paramilitary.
The RSF has ramped up its attacks on the Darfur city following the army's recapture of the capital Khartoum last month. The war, which entered its third year on Tuesday, has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created what the UN describes as the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. It has also fractured the country in two, with the army holding the centre, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and, along with its allies, parts of the south.
At least 8,000 people were reported missing in war-ravaged Sudan in 2024, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, warning that the figure is just "the tip of the iceberg". "These are just the cases we have collected directly," Daniel O'Malley, head of the ICRC delegation in Sudan, said in an interview. "We know this is just a small percentage -- the tip of the iceberg -- of the whole caseload of missing," he added.
As Sudan's brutal conflict entered its third year, O'Malley said the ICRC was not only working to trace missing persons, but also focusing on bolstering forensic capacity within Sudan to help identify victims years later and ensure their proper burial. "When people are buried, they should be buried in a dignified manner," he said.
For families of the missing, the pain of not knowing where their loved ones are may remain "an open wound" long after the war ends, he added. Sudan's war, which erupted in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations said that over 400 people had been killed in recent attacks on El Fasher -- the last army-held state capital in Darfur -- and nearby displacement camps. The RSF has ramped up its assaults on El Fasher after the army recaptured the capital Khartoum last month. "We are deeply concerned about what is happening in El Fasher," O'Malley said, urging all parties to guarantee "safe passage in order for civilians to be able to exit safely". "There is a need for all the parties involved to take the responsibility and to ensure that this is done," he added. — AFP
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