The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to stop killing civilians fleeing El Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state. The agency said it had received evidence of RSF-backed militias targeting civilians on the road from El Geneina to Adre (Republic of Chad).

OHCHR calls on international and local organizations to take immediate action to ensure the safety of people fleeing El Geneina and humanitarian agencies have access to the area where the casualties occurred.

Meanwhile, fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF continued on June 25 in Darfur city, killing at least 12 civilians. Speaking from the capital of South Darfur state, a doctor who did not want to be named (for security reasons) said that fighting in the area had killed at least 12 civilians in Nyala. The doctor said that emergency treatment and treatment of the injured were difficult because fierce fighting hindered the movement of patients.

Darfur, a vast western region bordering Chad, has seen the bloodiest violence in a power struggle that erupted in mid-April between national army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The humanitarian situation in Sudan is dire, with entire districts of the capital Khartoum without running water and electricity only available for a few hours a week. Aid facilities are also being looted on a regular basis. The armed forces of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are intensifying fighting in the area, while the RSF has carried out artillery attacks on police stations and military bases. Several witnesses reported widespread fighting in the capital Khartoum.

According to statistics, the fighting that broke out in Sudan since April 15, 2023 has killed about 2,500 people, forced 2.5 million people to leave their homes and sparked a major humanitarian crisis./.

KG (according to Sudan Tribune, The Hindu)