CAIRO (AP) — More than two weeks of fighting between Sudan’s military and a notorious paramilitary group over a major city in western Darfur has killed at least 123 people, an international aid group said Sunday.
Fighting in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, also injured more than 930 people in the same period, Doctors Without Borders said.
“This is a sign of the violent intensity of the fighting,” the group said. “We call on parties to the conflict to do more to protect civilians.”
Clashes between the military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated earlier this month in the city, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
El-Fasher has become the center of conflict between the military and the RSF, which is aided by Arab militias commonly known as janjaweed. The city is the last stronghold still controlled by the military in the extensive Darfur region.
The Sudan conflict began in April last year, when growing tensions between military leaders and the RSF erupted into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and other parts of the country.
The conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and injured thousands of others, amid reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities that rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It also pushed the country’s population to on the verge of starvation. The UN food agency warned warring parties earlier this month that there is a serious risk of widespread spread. hunger and death in Darfur and other parts of Sudan if they do not allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
The RSF has gathered forces in recent months to try to take control of el-Fasher. Together with its Arab militia allies, the RSF besieged the city and launched a big attack in its southern and eastern parts earlier this month.
Clashes resumed on Thursday at the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people in the Salam neighborhood in the northern part of the city, as well as in the southern western part, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said. On Saturday, a bomb hit the home of a Doctors Without Borders aid worker, near the city’s main market, killing the worker, the charity said.
