More than 100 people have been killed in attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. A UN report says more than 100 people, including 20 children and nine aid workers, were killed in two days of attacks on displaced people in the famine-stricken Darfur region. Al Jazeera reports.
Clementine Nokweta-Salami, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said in a statement on Saturday that RSF and allied militias have launched attacks near Zamzam, Abu Shouk camp and El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province.
He said the camps were attacked again on Friday and Saturday, and nine aid workers were killed while carrying out activities at the Zamzam camp.
According to UN figures, Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps are home to more than 700,000 people who were forced to flee their homes due to fighting in the Darfur region.
“Since the conflict began almost two years ago, there has been a steady increase in brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan. I strongly urge those who are carrying out such acts to immediately desist,” said Clementine Nokweta-Salami.
The UN official did not reveal the identities of the aid workers. The Sudanese Doctors Union said in a statement that six medical workers from the Relief International group were killed in an attack on their hospital in Zamzam on Friday.
The union said they included hospital doctor Mahmoud Babakar Idris and the head of the area, Adam Babakar Abdullah. They blamed RSF for this criminal and barbaric act.
The country has been in a power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese armed forces for nearly two years, with both sides accused of killing civilians. The attacks have escalated since the RSF’s Al-Jazeera region commander recently defected to the military.
The United Nations says the conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the RSF has created the world’s “worst” humanitarian crisis, killing thousands and displacing millions.