Sudanese paramilitary forces kill 28 in Darfur

An attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces (RSF) on a stronghold of a Darfur tribal leader left at least 28 people dead, a doctors group said on Tuesday. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces rampaged through the town of Misteriha in North Darfur province, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.

The town is a stronghold of Arab tribal leader Musa Hilal who also hails from the Rizeigat Arab tribe as the majority of the members of the paramilitary RSF. At least 39 people, including 10 women, were wounded in the attack, the medical group said. Sudan’s war erupted in 2023 after tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into fighting that began in Khartoum and spread nationwide, killing thousands, triggering mass displacement, disease outbreaks, and severe food insecurity.

Aid workers were frequently targeted. The medical group said RSF shelling hit the town’s healthcare centre on Monday, after which the RSF fighters assaulted medical staff and detained at least one of them. The paramilitaries began their offensive on the town over the weekend with drone strikes that hit Hilal’s guesthouse.

The RSF launched a major ground offensive and took over the town. The seizure of Misteriha has asserted RSF control of Darfur. However, it risks escalating tribal tensions in an area long known for violence and war. Attack came four months after the RSF overran el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur after 18 months of siege.

The paramilitaries killed more than 6,000 people between October 25 and October 27 in the city. The attack was marked by atrocities that UN-backed experts said bore “the hallmarks of genocide.” The war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million forced to flee their homes. It has fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country into famine that still spreads as fighting shows no sign of abating.

The latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification earlier this month warned that severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous and deadly form of malnutrition, is expected to increase to 800,000 cases, up 4per cent from 2025.

Aid groups have long struggled to meet the growing needs of displaced people across the country and called for a ceasefire to secure aid delivery to remote areas in Darfur and Kordofan — another hotbed in the war

“The main thing that needs to happen is, of course, a ceasefire,” said Zia Salik, interim UK director of Islamic Relief, an aid group working in Sudan. “Ultimately, that is what’s causing the pain and the difficulty for all of the civilians that are caught in the crosshairs.”