At least 27 dead in Sudan in clashes between army and paramilitaries

More than a year after the start of the war in Sudan, the massacres continue. At least 27 people were killed and 130 others injured on Friday May 10 in the Darfur region, during clashes between the army and paramilitaries, the UN reported on Sunday May 12.

Airstrikes and gunfire “heavy weapon” rang out overnight from Saturday to Sunday in el-Facher, in North Darfur, where 1.5 million people live, including 800,000 displaced people, the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a statement. Clashes continued on Sunday, with planes bombing the east and north of the city and exchanges of artillery fire, residents contacted by telephone by AFP said. The fights also “caused the displacement of hundreds” of people, according to the UN.

For several weeks, the international community has been warning of imminent carnage in the capital of the state of North Darfur, the only one of the five states of Darfur not to be in the hands of the paramilitaries making up the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). . Since April 2023, Sudan has been in the grip of a war between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of his former deputy turned rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo. The conflict has left tens of thousands dead, and both the army and the RSF have been accused of indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas and obstructing the passage of humanitarian aid, with the paramilitaries specifically accused of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.