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.

Experts fear reports of 124 dead in attack on villages south of Khartoum are significant underestimation.

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 neighboring 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 neighboring 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 characterized 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.”

The Latest Attacks

At least 124 people were killed in an attack by the Sudanese paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Friday, activists and doctors say, which, if confirmed, marks one of the deadliest incidents in a civil war that shows no signs of abating. The RSF has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the country since April last year. Both forces have been accused of killing civilians.

The incident follows the defection of the RSF commander in Al-Jazirah, the region where the massacre allegedly took place. Since then RSF attacks have escalated, reports say.

The Impact on Civilians

A member of the Resistance Committees, a grassroots network formed by Sudanese residents, told CNN that over 200 other civilians were injured in the attack on Al-Sareeha village, with an additional 150 detained by the RSF. The true number of victims may be “significantly higher,” the activist said, citing difficulties in documentation due to communication barriers. The activist requested anonymity on safety grounds. “The RSF militia has confiscated all Starlink devices — the only means of communication available to civilians,” they said. The activist also noted that more than 30 villages in the eastern Al-Jazirah region have been abandoned as residents flee retaliatory militia attacks.

A Pattern of Violence

The Sudan Doctors Network has also reported on mass killings in the same village, saying that RSF forces “committed a massacre against civilians in Al-Sareeha” resulting in 124 deaths, numerous injuries, and the displacement of hundreds in attacks on Friday. CNN cannot independently verify the incident, or the numbers reported, as media teams are not permitted in the area. CNN has reached out to the RSF for comment but has not received an immediate response.

The UN says the fighting between the SAF and the RSF has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands have died and millions have been displaced. CNN reporting last year exposed an RSF-led campaign to enslave men and women, and other atrocities by the paramilitary group and its allied militias in Sudan’s western Darfur region – an area already scarred by what has been widely described as the 21st century’s first genocide.

A Call for Action

(Port Sudan, 26 October 2024) – The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Ms. Clementine Nkweta-Salami, is deeply troubled by reports of escalating armed violence in Aj Jazirah State, which has reportedly claimed the lives of scores of civilians. Preliminary reports between 20 and 25 October indicate that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a major attack across eastern Aj Jazirah. RSF fighters reportedly shot at civilians indiscriminately, perpetrated acts of sexual violence against women and girls, committed widespread looting of markets and homes, and burned down farms. Residents from several villages, including Safita Ghanoubab, AlHilaliya, and Al-Aziba, were reportedly subjected to physical assaults, humiliation, and threats resulting in scores of civilians fleeing their homes for safety. Those who remain face severe threats.

“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 Aj Jazirah State. These are atrocious crimes,” said Nkweta-Salami. “Women, children, and the most vulnerable are bearing the brunt of a conflict that has already taken far too many lives.”

The numbers of civilian casualties from these attacks are yet to be established. Thousands of families have fled their homes to several areas within Aj Jazirah State, while others have been displaced to Gedaref and Kassala states. Humanitarian partners are gathering more information on the situation, alongside mobilizing to assist the hundreds of people displaced by the escalation of hostilities.

“Attacking civilians, civilian objects, and public infrastructure is prohibited by International Humanitarian Law. It is unacceptable and must stop immediately. Civilians must be protected wherever they are,” said Nkweta-Salami.

The RSF's Denial and Escalating Violence

A senior UN official in Sudan says she is deeply troubled by reports of “atrocious crimes” in the central Gezira state, including the mass killing of civilians by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Clementine Nkweta-Salami’s comments came after an activist group said that at least 124 people were killed by the RSF in attacks on villages over the past week. The RSF has denied targeting civilians, saying its fighters are clashing with militias armed by the military.

The 18-month conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million. Gezira state turned into a major battleground last week after the RSF suffered a major blow when one of its commanders, Abu Aqla Kayka, defected to the military. The army said he had brought “a large number of his forces” with him, in what it described as the first high-profile defection to its side. In response, the RSF said its fighters would defend themselves and “decisively deal with everyone carrying arms”.

Ms Nkweta-Salami, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said that preliminary reports suggested that the RSF had carried out a major attack across the state between 20 and 25 October. She added that it led to mass killings, the raping of women and girls, the widespread looting of markets and homes, and the burning down of farms. Ms Nkweta-Salami said the “atrocious crimes” were on a scale similar to those seen in Sudan’s Darfur region last year, when the RSF was accused of “ethnic cleansing” communities seen to be opposed to it.

Ms Nkweta-Salami said the death toll was still unclear, but preliminary reports suggested that scores of people were killed in Gezira state. In a statement on Saturday, the Wad Madani Resistance Committee, which campaigns for an end to the conflict and democratic rule in Sudan, said the RSF was committing “extensive massacres in one village after another”, the Reuters news agency reported. The Sudanese doctors’ union called on the UN to push the two sides in the conflict to agree to safe humanitarian corridors into villages that were facing “genocide” at the hands of the RSF. The doctors’ union added that rescue operations had become impossible and that the army was “incapable” of protecting civilians.

The Ongoing Conflict

The conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023 after a fall out between the commanders of the RSF and military, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan respectively. The two had jointly staged a coup in 2021, derailing Sudan’s transition to democracy, but then got involved in a vicious power struggle. The two leaders have refused to sign a peace deal, despite efforts by the US and Saudi Arabia to broker an end to the conflict.

A Bleak Future

The escalating violence in Sudan paints a bleak picture for the country’s future. With the RSF continuing its brutal attacks on civilians, the humanitarian crisis is only worsening. The international community must act decisively to pressure both sides to cease hostilities and allow for the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. Only then can Sudan begin to heal from the wounds of this devastating war.