PORT SUDAN: As the UN issued a warning about widespread starvation and displacement, a group of pro-democracy activists in Sudan alleged on Thursday that paramilitary forces had invaded a village, leaving “more than 104” people dead in a single day.
The Madani Resistance Committee reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, launched a strong artillery offensive on the central village of Wad al-Noura in al-Jazira state on Wednesday “in two waves.”
On Wednesday, it was claimed that the paramilitaries, who were feared, had “invaded the village,” resulting in numerous deaths and extensive displacement.
The committee, one of hundreds of similar grassroots organizations throughout Sudan, stated that the attack “claimed the lives of more than 104 martyrs” and “injured hundreds,” adding that it arrived at the toll through “initial communication with village residents.”
UN fears that within days, internal displacement numbers might reach 10 million.
Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN resident coordinator for Sudan, expressed her dismay at hearing about “violent attacks and a high number of casualties” in the hamlet.
She demanded that “those responsible be held accountable” and that an inquiry be conducted.
“In Sudan, human tragedy has come to define daily existence. We can’t let impunity turn into another one,” she continued.
The group posted video of what it claimed to be a “mass grave” in the public plaza on social media. The clip showed white shrouds arranged in rows in a courtyard.
Tens of thousands of people have died in the battle in just over a year, with up to 15,000 of them in a single town in West Darfur.
Uncertain toll
The total number of deaths from the conflict is still unknown, however some estimates put it as high as 150,000, according to US special envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello. The RSF is well-known for its massive looting, sexual assault, and ethnic brutality, and for having frequently besieged and attacked entire communities around the nation.
The RSF announced in a statement that it had engaged in combat with its adversary “outside the city” and attacked three army barracks in the Wad al-Noura region. An “expected” attempt to “criminalise the people of Wad al-Noura and label them a legitimate target” was what the resistance group described as the RSF’s statement.
The people had “called for help from the armed forces, which did not respond,” according to the statement. Although Sudan’s ruling sovereignty council, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, described Wednesday’s strike as a “heinous massacre of defenseless civilians,” the military has not released an official statement on the matter.
Sudanese villagers have repeatedly accused the army of “abandoning” them and withdrawing in the face of RSF offensives, especially in al-Jazira and the western Darfur region.
The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the erstwhile deputy of Burhan, and the army have both been charged with war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling residential areas, killing civilians, and stealing or impeding humanitarian aid.
“Crimes of war”
The attack on Wad al-Noura was declared a “war crime” on Thursday by the pro-democracy group Emergency Lawyers, a volunteer organization that records the horrors of the conflict. They also urged the international community to “exert pressure” on both parties to adhere to international law.
The internal displacement rate in Sudan might “top 10 million” in a matter of days, the UN migration agency said on Thursday.
In addition to the 2.8 million people who had already been displaced from earlier conflicts in the 48 million-person war-torn nation, almost seven million people have left their homes for other regions of Sudan since the conflict started.
The International Organization for Migration said in a statement that “the world’s worst internal displacement crisis continues to escalate, with looming famine and disease adding to the havoc wrought by conflict.”
According to the report, 70% of the displaced people in Sudan “are now trying to survive in places that are at risk of famine.” According to the UN, 3.6 million children in Sudan are severely malnourished, and 18 million adults suffer from acute hunger.
Aid organizations claim that although widespread hunger has plagued the nation for months, the official declaration of a famine has not happened due to a lack of data.
According to new projections from the Dutch research tank Clingendael Institute, 2.5 million people could starve to death by the end of September if the current humanitarian scenario persists. According to the institution, that number represents “roughly 15 percent of the population in Darfur and Kordofan,” the country’s vast western and southern regions that have suffered some of the worst violence.
According to the UN, there have been “systematic obstructions and deliberate denials” of humanitarian access by both parties.
