Cairo, Oct 27 (AP) Fighters from the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces ran riot in east-central Sudan in a multi-day attack that killed more than 120 people in one town, a doctors group and the United Nations said.
\nIt was the group’s latest attack against the Sudanese military after suffering a series of setbacks, losing ground to the military in the area. The war, which has been going on for more than a year and a half, has wrecked the African country, displacing millions of its population and pushing it to the brink of a full-blown famine.
\nRSF fighters went on a rampage in villages and towns on the eastern and northern sides of the province of Gezira between Oct 20-25, shooting at civilians and sexually attacking women and girls, the United Nations said in a statement Saturday, adding that they looted private and public properties, including open markets.
\n\u201cThese are atrocious crimes,\u201d Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement on Saturday. \u201cWomen, children, and the most vulnerable are bearing the brunt of a conflict that has already taken far too many lives.\u201d
\nShe said the attacks resembled the horrors committed during the Darfur genocide in the early 2000s, including rape, sexual violence, and mass killings.
\nThe Sudanese Doctors’ Union said in a statement that at least 124 people were killed and 200 others were wounded in the town of Sariha, adding that the group rounded up at least 150 others. It called on the UN Security Council to pressure the RSF to open \u201csafe corridors\u201d to enable aid groups to reach people in impacted villages.
\n\u201cThere is no way to help the injured or evacuate them for treatment,\u201d the statement said.
\nFootage circulating online, some shared by RSF fighters themselves, showed members of the paramilitary group abusing detained people. One video showed a man wearing a military uniform grabbing an old man by the chin and dragging him around as other armed men chanted in the background.
\nThe RSF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
\nThe Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces, an alliance of pro-democracy parties and groups, also accused the RSF of storming villages, and opening fire on civilians as well as rounding up and mistreating \u201ca large number of residents\u201d.
\nIn a statement, the alliance held the RSF \u201cresponsible for these massive violations,\u201d and called for holding the perperators accountable.
\nThe attack on Gezira came as the military had successfully taken back areas held by the RSF.
\nIn September, the military launched a massive operation in and around the capital city of Khartoum, reclaiming large swaths of areas from the RSF. Also, earlier this month, it seized control of Jebel Moya, a strategic mountainous area in Gezira province, as well as areas in Gezira and nearby Sinnar province, driving out RSF forces.
\nIn October, a top RSF commander, Abu Aqlah Keikel, the de facto ruler of Gezira, defected and surrendered himself to the military.
\nThat prompted RSF fighters to attack villages and towns in Gezira seen as loyal to Keikel, according to local reports.
\nThe war in Sudan began in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in Khartoum, before spreading across the country.
\nThe war has been marked by atrocities such as mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. The UN and international rights groups say these acts amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly in the western region of Darfur, which has been facing a bitter onslaught by the RSF.
\nThe conflict has killed more than 24,000 people so far, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a group monitoring the conflict since it started. (AP)<\/p>\n
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