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The Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, and allied militias launched
an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North
Darfur province, on Sunday, according to the Resistance
Committees, an activist group. Dozens of other people were
wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.
The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential
buildings and open markets in the city, the group said. There
was no immediate comment from the RSF.
El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the
capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which
has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more
than two years ago, killing more than than 24,000 people,
according to the United Nations, though activists say the number
is likely far higher.
The RSF has been attempting to seize el-Fasher for a year to
complete its control of the entire Darfur region. Since then, it
has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit
camps for displaced people on its outskirts.
The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million
people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and
previous bouts of violence in Darfur. The RSF grew out of the
notorious Janjaweed militias, mobilized two decades ago by then
President Omar al-Bashir against populations that identify as
Central or East African in Darfur. The Janjaweed were accused of
mass killings, rapes and other atrocities.
The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as
the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other
urban areas in the county’s east and center.
Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack
by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam
and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to
the United Nations.
Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the
Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to
aid workers, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
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