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60 Dead in RSF Drone Strike on Displacement Centre in El Fasher

Moatinoon
The death toll from the attack on the Dar Al-Arqam Displacement Center in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur State, has risen to 60 following two consecutive drone strikes and eight incendiary shells on Friday and Saturday morning.

According to the El Fasher Resistance Committees, at least 30 people were initially reported killed when militias launched a drone strike on a shelter for displaced persons in the besieged city of El Fasher, western Sudan.

The committees reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) bombed the Dar Al-Arqam Center for displaced people, located within the campus of a local university.

In a statement, the committees said that many bodies remain trapped under the rubble, describing the incident as a “massacre,” and urged the international community to intervene.

“The victims include children, women, and the elderly, many of whom were burned alive,” the statement read. “The situation has surpassed the level of catastrophe and genocide inside the city, while the world remains silent.”

The RSF has been waging a civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023. Its fighters have besieged El Fasher for over 500 days, and families there are suffering from hunger and isolation.

El Fasher, now home to around 260,000 residents after tens of thousands fled, remains the last state capital in the Darfur region not under RSF control. The city has become a strategic frontline as the paramilitary seeks to consolidate its dominance in western Sudan.

The United Nations has described the conflict in Sudan as one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century. More than 150,000 people have been killed, 14 million displaced, and nearly 25 million are suffering from extreme hunger.

On Friday, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he was “horrified by the RSF’s reckless and disproportionate disregard for civilian life” in El Fasher.

“Despite repeated calls — including my own — to prioritize the protection of civilians, they continue to kill, injure, and displace them, attacking civilian targets including displacement shelters, hospitals, and mosques, in total disregard for international law,” Türk said. “This must stop.”

He added that the RSF and all parties to the conflict “should draw lessons from the conviction of Ali Kushayb earlier this week.”