Sudanese militia have been accused of killings, sexual violence, looting and arson during eight days of attacks on villages south of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
The UN said there were reports of “gross human rights abuses” linked to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group, which has escalated attacks on civilians in el-Gezira state since the area’s key commander was reported to have defected to government forces on 20 October.
The Sudan Doctors Network said on Saturday that 124 people had been killed and dozens wounded after an attack on the village of al-Suhra.
The UN has reported that nearly 47,000 people have been displaced from their homes over the past week, mostly to neighbouring states, and at least 30 villages have been attacked.
The RSF has suffered key battlefield losses around Khartoum to the Sudanese army. Both sides have been fighting for control of Sudan since April 2023, causing the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.
Famine was declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur in August, with warnings that extreme hunger would spread if the warring parties did not allow aid in.
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said the violence echoed the RSF’s actions in the western region of Darfur, where it has control and has been targeting ethnic groups.
“I am shocked and deeply appalled that human rights violations of the kind witnessed in Darfur last year – such as rape, targeted attacks, sexual violence and mass killings – are being repeated in el-Gezira state. These are atrocious crimes,” said Nkweta-Salami.
The departure of RSF commander Abu Aqleh Keikal, reportedly after a deal was struck with the Sudanese army, is the first such defection in the 18-month conflict.
The Sudanese army had been trying to “choke out” RSF forces in the neighbouring cities of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri, said political analyst Kholood Khair.
“The RSF attacks though are mostly on civilians particularly [Keikal’s tribal group] the Shukriya, so they’re not a counter-offensive on the SAF [Sudanese Armed Forces] but acts characterised by atrocity violence on civilians,” Khair said.
“I think considering the nature of the violence, the level of impunity enjoyed by the RSF and the near-total global silence on this, that the numbers of dead may end up being a gross underestimation.”
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