UN condemns deadly attacks on civilians in Sudan

At least 60 people were murdered in a market shelling in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum, which was one of several attacks on civilians in Sudan that the UN denounced on Sunday.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, a United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, called Saturday’s assault on Omdurman’s Sabreen market and other residential areas “horrific” and “indiscriminate” in a statement.

The market in army-controlled Omdurman was hit by artillery fire from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to pro-democracy attorneys.

Across the Nile in the capital itself, an air strike on an RSF-held area killed two civilians and wounded dozens, rescuers said.

Since April 2023, the RSF and Sudan’s army have been engaged in a bloody power struggle; this month, the battle has gotten more intense as the army tries to retake the capital.

Nkweta-Salami also expressed regret over reports of civilian deaths in the wide western area of Darfur and the southern Sudanese province of North Kordofan between Thursday and Saturday.

The army announced on Thursday that it has retaken Umm Rawaba, a key city in North Kordofan, from paramilitaries who had controlled it since May 2023.

Several homes were set on fire as a result of RSF artillery and rocket raids on Saturday in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, according to witnesses.

The Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, a civil society group, also accused the army on Thursday of carrying out air strikes on the town of Manawashi, 78 kilometres (48 miles) north of South Darfur’s capital Nyala.

In North Darfur, the RSF attacked areas west of the state’s besieged capital El-Fasher on Thursday, looting homes, killing civilians and forcing mass displacement, activists said.

Both the RSF and Sudan’s military have been repeatedly accused of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
“The suffering of Sudanese civilians has gone on for too long,” Nkweta-Salami said.

“It’s long past time to end this war.”