PORT SUDAN, Sudan: At least 25 civilians have been killed in the northern Darfur town of El-Fasher in clashes between the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary, according to a pro-democracy lawyers committee.
The Emergency Lawyers said on Tuesday the city and its surrounding villages have suffered several days of “arbitrary shelling and air strikes.” The group have been documenting atrocities committed against civilians since fighting began a year ago between the army and the paramilitary RSF.
As the war enters its second year, the United Nations and the United States have said the collapse of the fragile peace in El-Fasher, the last Darfur state capital not under RSF control, poses a serious threat to hundreds of thousands of people already affected. It warned that this damage will be catastrophic.
El-Fasher is also a major humanitarian hub in the vast Darfur region, home to about a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people and the site of devastating violence in the region and past conflicts.
Witnesses in a refugee camp near Abu Shouk Tuesday reported seeing hundreds of people fleeing the camp towards the city after the fighting reached the border.
Over the past year, Darfur residents and the United Nations have reported that their shelters are routinely besieged and attacked by fighters.
Darfur’s fragile health infrastructure is almost destroyed.
According to the United Nations, 70 percent of medical facilities across the country are no longer available.
“Dozens of injured have arrived to the hospital today,” a medical source at El-Fasher Southern Hospital said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from the warring parties. They are known to target medics.
“We’re suffering a severe shortage in blood and medical personnel.”
Both sides are accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and aid workers, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, and torture.
Thousands of people have been killed since the war began on April 15 last year, including 15,000 in one town in West Darfur, according to UN experts.
In addition, more than 8.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes. Many have been forced to flee for a second or third time, especially in the already war-torn Darfur.
