The Forgotten War

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An estimated 150 people were killed in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village in central Sudan this week, the latest massacre in the civil conflict between the paramilitary group and the country’s military that began more than a year ago, Al Jazeera reported.

On Wednesday, the Wad Madani Resistance Committees accused the RSF of attacking the Wad al-Noura village in Gezira state, according to a post on social media. The committees shared photos and videos showing dozens of bodies wrapped for burial in a mass grave, with victims including women, children and the elderly.

Hafiz Mohamad of the Justice Africa Sudan human rights group told the BBC that many more people are still missing, adding that it was “difficult to count all the dead” because “RSF elements are still around the area looting.”

The RSF, while claiming to have attacked army positions, did not acknowledge civilian casualties.

Even so, Sudanese military officials and their allies condemned the attack, describing it as part of a pattern of targeting of civilians.

Sudan’s conflict began in April 2023 following a power struggle between army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The fighting has killed more than 15,000 people, exacerbated pre-existing ethnic tensions, particularly in Darfur, and displaced more than eight million people internally and outside of the country.

International efforts to broker peace have so far failed and the United Nations warned that “time is running out” for millions of Sudanese, who are at imminent risk of famine.

The RSF controls much of western Sudan and is advancing into central regions, while battles continue in parts of Darfur.