Shelling by Sudanese paramilitary kills 12, injures 5 as tensions escalate

Shelling by Sudanese paramilitary forces on Saturday killed at least 12 people in the north of the vast Darfur region that is almost completely under their control, activists said.

Five people were also wounded in the bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the regular army since April last year, according to the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across the country.

RSF fighters took three people captive after the bombardment north of the town of Kutum, the committee added.

The region’s governor, former rebel leader Mini Minawi, who is close to the regular army, said the paramilitaries had torched some 20 villages in the area.

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The army has largely been confined to the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher since the paramilitaries swept through the rest of the region last year.

RSF fighters have laid siege to the city of some two million people since May and and famine has already been declared in the Zamzam camp for the displaced to its south. UN officials have voiced mounting concern about the dire conditions in Darfur and across Sudan.

“The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence – with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told the Security Council late last month.

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