RSF Attacks in Sudan’s Sennar Province Intensify Conflict
The rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expanded the war in Sudan over the weekend by attacking several cities and villages in the central Sennar province.
Over the past 14 months, the RSF has engaged in an open insurgency against Sudan’s internationally recognized government. Recently, it launched offensives on the village of Jebal Moya and the major city of Singa.
Residents reported that the RSF committed widespread looting and destruction before government forces regained control. The assault extended to the Singa Educational Hospital, where the RSF allegedly took dozens of staff members and patients hostage, according to the Sennar Observatory for Human Rights, a local human rights group.
In its statement, the humanitarian group asserted that RSF fighters attempted to use hospital staff and patients as “human shields” in a “clear violation of international humanitarian law.”
The group also briefly took control of the military’s 17th Infantry Division Headquarters in Singa, according to a Sudanese government spokesperson, but the base was eventually recaptured.
The violence and chaos caused by the attack forced at least 327 households to flee, the UN’s migration watchdog reported.
The war in Sudan has resulted in the deaths of approximately 14,000 people and the displacement of at least 11 million, the largest crisis of its kind in the world.
