An attack on a funeral in the strategic city of El-Obeid in Sudan’s central Kordofan region killed 40 people, the UN said Wednesday, as paramilitaries looked poised to launch an offensive there.
The United Nations’ humanitarian office did not specify when the attack took place or who was behind it, but said that the situation in Kordofan was worsening.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more, with the fighting spreading to new areas in recent days, sparking fears of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the military since 2023, appears to have shifted its focus to Kordofan after capturing El-Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast western Darfur region.
“Local sources report that at least 40 civilians were killed and dozens injured yesterday in an attack on a funeral gathering in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.
“Once again, OCHA calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.”
El-Obeid is a logistics and command hub that links Darfur to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The RSF claimed control of Bara, a city north of El-Obeid, last week.
– Mass rape –
People forced to flee El-Fasher have described horrific abuse, including rape, at the hands of the RSF.
“The rapes were gang rapes. Mass rape in public, rape in front of everyone and no one could stop it,” mother of four Amira said from a makeshift shelter in Tawila, some 70 kilometres (43 miles) west of El-Fasher.
“You’d be asleep and they’d come and rape you,” she said, using a pseudonym while speaking during a webinar organised by campaign group Avaaz.
“I saw with my own eyes people who couldn’t afford to pay (for safe passage) and the fighters took their daughters instead.”
Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab released close-up satellite images showing evidence of atrocities committed during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher.
The lab’s executive director, Nathaniel Raymond, told AFP in an interview that the images were “a spark plug for public outrage”.
Both sides in the war have been accused of committing atrocities.
The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.
The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south, while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.
The UAE is accused by the UN of supplying arms to the RSF — allegations it has repeatedly denied.
Abu Dhabi on Wednesday voiced its support for a ceasefire and its “deep denunciation of the ongoing human rights violations and horrific crimes being committed against civilians in various parts of Sudan”, including El-Fasher.
The Sudanese army, meanwhile, has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, according to observers.
– Truce proposal –
Sudan’s army-backed defence minister on Tuesday said the military would press on with its fight against the RSF after an internal meeting to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire.
“We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace,” Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, but added that “preparations for the Sudanese people’s battle are ongoing”.
No details of the US truce proposal have been made public.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Washington wanted “to see this conflict come to a peaceful end”, but added “it’s a very complicated situation on the ground right now”.
She said the United States was “actively engaged” in seeking a peace deal alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The army-aligned authorities had rejected an earlier truce proposal from the four countries — referred to as the Quad — under which both the army and the RSF would be excluded from a transitional political process.
Speaking at a forum in Qatar on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the warring parties to “come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence — now”.
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© Agence France-Presse
