More than 30 people have been killed in Sudan in recent attacks blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been locked in a violent conflict with the Sudanese army since April 2023, according to emergency responders.
The latest wave of violence follows six consecutive days of RSF drone assaults targeting Port Sudan, the de facto capital under army control during the ongoing war.
The strikes reportedly damaged critical infrastructure, including the power grid and the country’s only functioning civilian airport.
On Friday, a devastating airstrike hit the Abu Shouk displacement camp in Darfur, killing 14 members of the same family.
A group of volunteer first responders accused the RSF of carrying out the attack, which also left others injured.
The camp, located near El-Fasher—Darfur’s last state capital, not under RSF control—is currently battling famine, according to the United Nations.
Home to tens of thousands displaced by previous conflicts and the current war, Abu Shouk has been repeatedly shelled recently. It lies close to Zamzam camp, which was overtaken by RSF forces in April following a major offensive that forced most residents to flee.
In another deadly incident on Saturday, an RSF drone attack struck a prison in the southern city of El-Obeid, killing at least 19 people and injuring 45 more, a local medical source reported. The city, located in North Kordofan state, is under army control.
Meanwhile, army aircraft launched retaliatory strikes on RSF strongholds in Darfur’s cities of Nyala and El-Geneina, reportedly destroying military stockpiles and weapons depots.
The RSF claimed earlier in the week that it had seized control of En Nahud, a strategically important town in West Kordofan that serves as a supply corridor for the Sudanese army into Darfur.
Army-affiliated officials continue to allege that the United Arab Emirates is supplying drones to the RSF, which lacks its own air force—a claim the UAE has previously denied.
The war erupted from a bitter power struggle between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the army, and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced more than 13 million people, and triggered one of the most severe humanitarian crises globally, according to the United Nations.
Sudan is now effectively split in two, with the army controlling the north, east, and central regions, while the RSF and its allied militias dominate most of Darfur and parts of the south. Both sides have been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes.
