At least 14 civilians killed by Sudanese paramilitaries fleeing besieged city

Sudan's conflict between the army and RSF has caused mass displacement, killings, and a growing humanitarian crisis

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Sudanese paramilitary fighters have killed at least 14 civilians trying to flee a besieged city in Darfur, a rights group said Monday, more than 27 months into their war against the army.

The Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in the war between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army, said that "dozens more were injured and an unknown number of civilians detained" in the paramilitary attack on Saturday on the outskirts of El-Fasher city, in the western Darfur region.

The RSF has in recent days launched its latest attack on El-Fasher, the North Darfur state capital which it has besieged since May 2024 but has been unable to seize from the hands of the army.

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Just two days before Saturday's attack, the RSF's political administration urged residents to evacuate to Qarni village, where the Emergency Lawyers says the civilians were killed.

"I call on you to leave El-Fasher and head to Qarni, the northwest gate of the city, where our forces and the Tasis alliance forces are located and will ensure your safety," the RSF-appointed Darfur governor Al-Hadi Idris said in a video address on Thursday.

Tasis is an RSF-led political alliance which late last month named leaders of a government based in South Darfur state capital Nyala.

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The UN has repeatedly warned of the plight of hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in El-Fasher with virtually no aid or services.

Families have survived on animal feed, a shortage of which was announced last week.

Since April 2023, the war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands, torn the country apart, and created what the UN has called the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

If the RSF captures El-Fasher, it will control all of Sudan's vast western region of Darfur and, along with its allies, much of the country's south.