♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact digest of the past week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.

Hospital and camp hit in lethal North Darfur shelling

09/06/2024 – EL FASHER. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have reportedly killed staff and patients in a hospital In El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, while the nearby Abu Shouk camp for the displaced has faced more artillery strikes from the RSF, killing three children and an adult.

Multiple sources have told Radio Dabanga that members of the RSF infiltrated El Fasher Southern Hospital, shooting at patients and staff and killing and wounding a number, including the director of the hospital, Ezzedine Ahmed, and the director of the accidents and emergencies dept. The Southern Hospital has been the site of several attacks by the warring parties, highlighting its importance as a tactical location.

100+ ‘massacred’ by RSF in Sudan’s El Gezira

06/06/2024 – WAD EL NOURA. Multiple sources report that the RSF committed a massacre in Wad El Noura village in El Gezira, killing more than 100 people. Witnesses said that the RSF targeted the village with heavy weapons. Condemnations of the attack poured in from various Sudanese political and civil bodies and figures.

A resident of Wad El Noura told Radio Dabanga that the death toll “so far amounts to 107 people” but that they “have yet to count all the bodies”. A video and pictures shared by the Wad Madani Resistance Committees showed villagers assembling in a public square in the village around scores of bodies ready for burial en masse.

Sudanese children ‘plead for peace’ amid Eid celebrations marred by war
17/06/2024 – NYALA / EL GENEINA / OMDURMAN / KAHARTOUM. As the war rages on, children across Sudan have expressed their sorrow over their inability to celebrate Eid with joy. In a series of interviews with Radio Dabanga, children across Sudan voiced their hopes for an end to the increasingly protracted war led by Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, so they may resume their normal lives and attend school.
 
UN officials hope new resolution ‘will alleviate suffering in North Darfur capital’
16/06/2024 – NEW YORK / EL FASHER. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed his deep concern about the continued fighting throughout Sudan whilst Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, expressed his hope that the Security Council resolution will alleviate the suffering of civilians in El Fasher, North Darfur.
 
Eight volunteers killed in North Darfur capital as renewed bombardments intensify
13/06/2024 – EL FASHER. Eight volunteers were killed in a charity kitchen in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, on Tuesday after reports stated a projectile launched by the paramilitary RSF struck. The city is experiencing fierce renewed battles as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied movements clash with the RSF, which has been attempting to seize control for several months.
 
Arab League seeks to ‘harmonise’ Sudan peace efforts
13/06/2024 – CAIRO. A meeting at the League of Arab States headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, has brought together international organisations and key nations hoping to enhance the coordination between initiatives aimed at restoring peace in Sudan.
 
US ambassadors highlight Sudan crisis at home and abroad
12/06/2024 – NAIROBI / NEW YORK. US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello met with Kenyan President William Ruto in Nairobi as part of his consultations on the war in Sudan. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that Sudan is “facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet”. She called on the international community to focus on this disaster.
 
Darfur atrocities: ICC prosecutor’s ‘urgent appeal’ for evidence and testimony
11/06/2024 – THE HAGUE / EL FASHER. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is to step up its investigations into crimes and atrocities allegedly being committed during the war in Sudan and has appealed to all victim groups, civil society organisations, national authorities, and international partners, to provide video, audio, testimony, and other evidence to advance the ICC investigations.
 
Heatwave kills dozens of Sudanese en route to Egypt
11/06/2024 – ASWAN. Dozens of Sudanese people attempting to illegally cross the border into Egypt have died, many from scorching heat. Long waiting times at the border, compounded with difficulties in obtaining a visa, are pushing more people to take illegal routes into Egypt in hopes of reaching a more stable life.
 
Op-ed: ‘Russian Red Sea base and RSF ‘government’ in Darfur will prolong war and condemn Sudan’
09/06/2024 – ADDIS ABABA. By Yassir Arman. Two ways towards prolonging the war and condemning Sudan to death: letting the Russians open a naval base in Port Sudan and establishing a government in El Fasher, North Darfur, based on the Libyan model. Somalia was originally one people and one land, speaking one language, following the same religion, and is ethnically homogeneous. Yet despite this, civil war wreaked havoc in Somalia, dividing its people and its land. What, then, will it do to Sudan, a country so rich in diversity?
 
Indiscriminate RSF shelling of North Darfur capital continues unabated
07/06/2024 – EL FASHER. People living in El Fasher, besieged by the paramilitary RSF, are still suffering from daily artillery shelling. The exact number of deaths and injuries in the past two days is not yet known.
 
World Food Programme expands emergency response to avert famine in Sudan
06/06/2024 – ROME. The UN World Food Programme is urgently expanding its emergency food and nutrition assistance in war-torn Sudan amid the looming threat of famine, as conditions for civilians deteriorate and fighting intensifies in battle zones like El Fasher and Khartoum state.