Sudan conflict: At least 30 killed in Dafur region as Rapid Support Forces launch offensive on El-Fasher

More than 30 people have been killed as a result of Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group after it attacked a city in the western Darfur region, home to over 1 million people.

The resistance committees in the city reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias launched an offensive on El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday. Dozens of people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.

The RSF has not yet issued a comment.

El-Fasher, a city over 800km southwest of Khartoum, remains under military control amid a brutal civil war that has raged for more than two years. The RSF has claimed over 24,000 lives, according to the UN — though activists warn the true toll is likely far higher.

The RSF has been attempting for a year to seize El-Fasher, the final piece in its push to dominate the entire Darfur region. Since then, it has repeatedly attacked the city and two nearby displacement camps already ravaged by famine.

The city has rapidly grown in population, as those displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence relocate to Darfur.

The RSF grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias, mobilised two decades ago by then-president Omar al-Bashir against populations that identify as Central or East African in Darfur. The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities.

The attacks on El-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and centre.

Sunday’s attack came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations.

Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric