Paramilitaries killed 57 civilians Friday in an attack on North Darfur’s besieged capital El-Fasher and a nearby famine-hit camp, activists said, as the battle to control Sudan’s west intensifies.The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023, launched a major assault on El-Fasher using heavy artillery, sniper fire and suicide drones from the east and northeast, said the local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group.”By 5:00 pm (local time), 32 people had been killed in the city, including four women and 10 children aged between one and five,” the group said, adding that at least 17 others were wounded and taken to hospital.Earlier, RSF fighters attacked Zamzam displacement camp around El-Fasher, killing 25 civilians, including women, children and elderly residents, the local committee said.Zamzam, along with other densely populated camps for the displaced around El-Fasher, has suffered heavily during nearly two years of fighting.El-Fasher is the only state capital still under army control in Darfur, making it a strategic prize in the RSF’s push for full control of the west.Witnesses described seeing RSF combat vehicles entering the Zamzam camp under cover of heavy gunfire.- ‘Destructive path’ -Friday’s assault followed RSF shelling Thursday of Abu Shouk camp, also near El-Fasher, that left at least 15 people dead and 25 wounded, rescuers said.Three El-Fasher residents told AFP that the RSF attacked the city on Friday from the east, south and west, after bombarding it with heavy artillery and rockets.They spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own safety.Drones were also seen attacking central El-Fasher, witnesses said.The paramilitaries have stepped up efforts to complete their conquest of Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum last month.Zamzam was the first part of Sudan where a UN-backed assessment declared famine last year.In December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said famine had since spread to two nearby camps — Abu Shouk and Al Salam — as well as to parts of the country’s south.The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, erupted in April 2023.The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.While the army recaptured Khartoum late last month, Africa’s third-largest country remains divided. The army holds sway in the east and north, while the RSF controls most of Darfur and parts of the south.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Friday of deeply catastrophic consequences for civilians as the conflict approaches its third year.”Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down their weapons and for the international community to act,” he said. “Sudan must not remain on this destructive path.”
