(Port Sudan) Clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitaries have killed at least 25 civilians in el-Facher, a town in North Darfur long spared from fighting and where many refugees live, a committee of pro-democracy lawyers.
The town and surrounding villages suffered several days of “arbitrary bombings and airstrikes,” according to Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities committed against civilians since the war began a year ago between the army and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR).
The United Nations and the United States have warned that an extension of the unrest in el-Facher, the only capital of the five Darfur states not in the hands of the RSF, would be catastrophic for the hundreds of thousands of refugees there. in already very precarious conditions.
El-Facher serves as a humanitarian hub for Darfur, a region where about a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people live and which is regularly plagued by atrocities.
Eyewitnesses from the Abu Shouk displaced persons camp, located near el-Facher, reported seeing hundreds of people fleeing the camp towards the town on Tuesday after clashes.
“Dozens of wounded arrived at the hospital today,” a medical source from the southern hospital of el-Facher, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the police, also told AFP. from the warring parties, known for attacking medical personnel.
Over the past year, Darfur residents and the United Nations have reported that refugee centers were regularly besieged and attacked by fighters. Darfur’s already fragile health infrastructure has been almost destroyed.
“We are suffering from a serious shortage of blood and medical personnel,” stressed the medical source.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and aid workers, bombing residential areas and carrying out torture.
The new conflict in Sudan, which began on April 15, 2023 between the army and the RSF, has left thousands dead and displaced more than 8.5 million people, according to the UN.