IOM: 190 families displaced by North Darfur clashes

El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, witnessed relative calm on Sunday, after clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday “left 30 dead and 42 wounded,” according to SAF figures.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) says that clashes led to 190 families being displaced from neighbourhoods north of the city, all of whom subsequently relocated southwards.

In an SAF statement, its spokesman said that the armed forces in El Fasher’s Sixth Infantry Division clashed with the RSF on Saturday, leading to 30 deaths and many people wounded, as well as the receipt of several combat vehicles.

The Deputy Chief of Mission of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Clementine Nkweta-Salami, expressed grave concern about the clashes in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and their impact on civilians living in displacement sites. The families who relocated had been residing in the neighbourhoods of North Hilla, Ziyadia and El Fasher Secondary.

Nkweta-Salami called on both sides to the conflict to cease hostilities immediately so that humanitarian workers can bring food, medicine, and shelter materials to those most in need.

Artillery shelling

Residents of the city told Radio Dabanga that both the RSF and the SAF used heavy weapons and artillery. They confirmed that the clashes lasted for approximately six hours in the northeastern direction in the Naivasha market and the neighbourhoods of Dim Silk and Khor Siyala neighbourhoods. A shell landed at the IRC health centre in Abu Shouk camp.

They pointed to a state of terror among survivors, with those wounded subsequently facing an acute shortage of life-saving medicines. A family member accompanying a hospital patient told Radio Dabanga of their dire situation: “Our house was bombed in El Dana, wounding several members of my family. We stress the importance of stopping the war”.

He explained that most of the wounded lacked access to proper treatment due to medical staff absences, as well as the money for treatment, as many salaries have not been paid due to the war.