At least 50 people have been killed and dozens injured in attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on villages south of Omdurman over the past three days, a local community spokesman said on Tuesday, calling the assaults retaliatory.
The attacks followed the withdrawal of many RSF fighters from the nearby Jebel Aulia area toward the southern Omdurman countryside in late March, after the Sudanese army recaptured parts of Khartoum and Jebel Aulia, according to the spokesman and previous reports.
Seifeddine Ahmed, a spokesman for the local Al-Jumu’iya community, said the RSF launched heavy assaults using artillery, rockets, and anti-aircraft guns, killing civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.
“There was no military presence in the targeted area,” Ahmed said, alleging that RSF fighters retreating from Khartoum had committed widespread violations against civilians and forced them to flee their villages. He called on the Sudanese army and the international community to intervene urgently to stop what he described as the “genocide of Al-Jumu’iya.”
Local sources said these villages had previously suffered RSF attacks earlier in the war, but community leaders had reportedly reached an agreement with the group to avoid further violence. Under the alleged deal, RSF forces were to stay out of the villages in exchange for residents not interfering with RSF movements along a key road.
Meanwhile, in South Kordofan State, at least 12 civilians were killed in RSF attacks, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. The activist group reported that hundreds of families were displaced as RSF fighters, along with allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) rebels, shelled residential areas in Khor al-Dalib.
The RSF has not commented on the recent attacks.
The Sudanese war, which began in April 2023, has led to more than 20,000 deaths and displaced 14 million people, according to the UN. However, research from U.S. universities estimates the actual death toll to be around 130,000. The conflict has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states, with the international community warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis as famine looms.