Sudan foes trade accusations as fighting rages in centre, west

PORT SUDAN:

Sudan's warring parties traded accusations of deadly attacks on civilians as fighting raged in the centre and west on Friday between the regular army and paramilitaries.

The army-backed government accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of causing at least 120 civilian deaths over two days in Al-Jazira state, Sudan's pre-war breadbasket where fighting has raged since last month.

The RSF in turn accused the regular armed forces of killing 60 people in an air strike in North Darfur, where they have been battling to retain a foothold in the western region otherwise controlled by the paramilitaries.

The conflict in Sudan pits the regular army, under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

It has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people since April 2023 and displaced more than 11 million more, according to the International Organization for Migration.

"The Janjaweed militia (paramilitaries) committed a new massacre in the town of Hilaliya in Al-Jazira state over the past two days," the foreign ministry of the army-backed government said in a statement late Thursday.

It said 120 civilians had been killed "either by gunfire or due to food poisoning and lack of medical care".

The army-backed government routinely refers to the RSF as Janjaweed, an infamous militia recruited by the then government in Khartoum to suppress an ethnic minority rebellion in the western region of Darfur two decades ago.

The Sudan Doctors' Union said that after "stealing all the possessions of residents in Hilaliya, the militia detained people inside mosques, only allowing them to leave after paying large sums, which are impossible to afford after the extensive looting and theft".

Witnesses said that the RSF had laid siege to the town for two weeks, leaving residents without safe food and water or access to medical care. AFP