Sudanese paramilitary forces killed at least 80 people in a southeastern village. File | Photo credit: AP
Sudanese paramilitary forces killed at least 80 people in a southeastern village, a medical source and witnesses said on Friday (August 16, 2024), an attack that came after US-sponsored talks aimed at The end of the 16-month-long devastating war,
The attack took place on Thursday (August 15, 2024) in Jalagini village in Sennar state.
“Fifty-five dead and dozens of injured were brought to the hospital on Thursday, 25 of whom died on Friday, bringing the death toll to 80,” a source at the medical centre in Jalagini said. AFP,
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A survivor said the paramilitary forces attacked on Thursday (August 15, 2024) morning.
“Three military vehicles attacked Jalgini yesterday morning. Residents resisted, forcing the paramilitary forces to retreat, and they returned with dozens of vehicles,” said a resident of Jalgini who was taking his injured son to hospital.
“They opened fire, set houses on fire and killed many people,” the man said, asking not to be named. “Some bodies were still lying on the street on Friday.”
Ceasefire talks began in Geneva on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) hosted by United States, Saudi and Swiss mediators, although the Sudanese military refused to participate.
The previous round of talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia failed to reach an agreement to end the fighting.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting Sudan’s regular army since April 2023, captured Sinja, the capital of Sennar state, in June.
Since then, about 726,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Sennar, according to the International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency.
Many of them had fled the war to other parts of the northeastern African country.
The state links central Sudan with the military-controlled southeast, where millions of people have taken refuge.
The RSF controls much of the capital, Khartoum, the central part of Al Jazeera state, the vast western Darfur region and large parts of Kordofan in the south.
In this war, Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is facing the RSF led by his former deputy army chief Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.
According to the United Nations, it has brought the country of 48 million to the brink of famine, and according to the US envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, thousands of people have died, with some estimates putting the number at as high as 150,000.
There are currently more than 10 million displaced people in Sudan, most of them in areas where the humanitarian situation is worsening as fighting spreads.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.