Darfur latest attacks: Death toll rises to more than 300 as Sudan war clocks two years

More than 300 civilians were killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region, the UN humanitarian agency reported on Monday, as the African country's brutal civil war hits the two-year mark.

The attacks launched by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on two famine-hit camps for displaced people in North Darfur and its nearby capital on Friday and Saturday were initially reported to have left more than 100 dead, including 20 children and nine aid workers, according to a UN official.

But the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, reported the much higher death toll on Monday, citing local sources that were not identified.

Sudan plunged into conflict on April 15, 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region. Since then, at least 24,000 people have been tallied as being killed, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is far higher.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, known as the RSF, carried out the recent attacks after the Sudanese military late last month regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war.

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The war has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis and worst displacement crisis, and it has led to Sudan becoming the only country in the world experiencing famine.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said OCHA has received reports of mass casualties and large-scale displacement following the recent fighting in and around the Zamzam and Abu Shorouk displacement camps, as well as North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, the only capital in Darfur that the RSF doesn’t control. North Darfur is one of five states in the Darfur region.

“Preliminary figures from local sources indicate that more than 300 civilians have been killed, including 10 humanitarian personnel from the NGO Relief International who lost their lives while operating one of the last functioning health centers in Zamzam camp,” Dujarric said.

Dujarric said the United Nations wants to see Sudan’s “neighbours and the international community move in unity of purpose towards peace instead of fuelling the conflict.”

The UN Security Council has scheduled emergency closed consultations on Sudan on Tuesday.

Refugee influx

The UN migration agency said on Monday that RSF attacks in Zamzam camp have displaced between 60,000 to 80,000 families in the past two days. The majority of the families remain within El Fasher, which is under military control but has been besieged by the RSF for over a year.

Mamadou Dian Balde, the UN refugee office’s regional director, said in a video press conference with UN correspondents that “massive violations of human rights” have forced almost 13 million Sudanese to flee their homes, including 4 million who fled to other countries. Most fled to Sudan's immediate neighbours, but more than 200,000 have gone to Libya and about 70,000 to Uganda, he said.

Balde said the UN refugee agency’s appeal for $1.8 billion to help the millions of refugees and their host nations is only 10% funded. He warned that if it doesn’t get more money, people will move toward southern Africa, east Africa, the Gulf countries and Europe.