At least 12 people have been killed in an attack by paramilitaries on El-Fasher, Sudan’s final town in the region certainly under their control, according to the army and local protesters.
The deaths are just the latest in a long line of almost two-year conflict between Sudan’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
They arrived on Wednesday, the same day Saudi Arabia and the United States demanded that the conflicting countries begin peace talks.
The army launched large artillery at El-Fasher, killing 12 people and injuring 17 others, according to El-Fasher’s Sixth Infantry Division on Wednesday.
The local opposition committee, a voluntary aid organization, reported the same number of injuries and deaths as on Wednesday in terms of 12 dead and 17 injured.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 12 million have been displaced as a result of Sudan’s conflict.
According to a UN-backed analysis, drought has been declared in some parts of the country, including in displacement camps close to El-Fasher.
The RSF is in charge of the majority of Darfur, Sudan’s large western region. They have been besieging El-Fasher for decades, and the conflict has gotten worse there.
Problems in Darfur are quickly deteriorating, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA on Wednesday.
More than 4, 000 people have been previously displaced in Northern Darfur state in the past week alone as a result of the violence that has erupted in El-Fasher, Zamzam movement camp south of the city, and different areas, according to OCHA on its website.
RSF even has control over parts of the south of Sudan. In later March, the military recaptured the money Khartoum. It has influence in the west and the north, leaving largely two countries, Africa’s third-largest nation.
The United States and Saudi Arabia mediated at the start of the conflict, which started on April 15, 2023, but numerous truces broke out.
The US and Saudi foreign officials met on Wednesday in Washington.
Following the meeting, the US State Department issued a statement stating that they “agreed that the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces may return to civilian governance, protect citizens, open humanitarian hallways, and return to peace deals.”
