RSF attacks kill at least 89 in elFasher, Darfur amid siege

Ten days of attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have killed at least 89 civilians in North Darfur’s provincial capital elFasher and the nearby Abu Shouk displacement camp, United Nations officials said, as renewed shelling, abductions and a yearslong siege deepen a humanitarian catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people. The violence has come amid a wider civil war that erupted in April 2023 and has already killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

The UN human rights office reported that the killings occurred between August 11 and August 20, with at least 57 people killed on August 11 and a further 32 between August 16 and 20. Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN human rights commissioner, said investigators feared the true toll was likely higher and that 16 of the more recent deaths appeared to be summary executions. He said the victims included members of the African Zaghawa and Berti tribes and warned that the pattern of attacks raised concerns of ethnically motivated violence and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The spike in violence included a separate attack on a road linking elFasher to the town of Tweila that...