Members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) in Sudan have killed at least 85 people, including women and children, during an attack on a village in the central part of the country, according to witnesses and local officials.
The RSF began attacking the village of Galgani in the central province of Senar in late July, and last week RSF fighters “indiscriminately opened fire on unarmed villagers” after they resisted attempts to abduct and sexually assault women and girls, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan.
The statement added that more than 150 people were wounded.
Describing the hours-long attack, three residents said hundreds of RSF fighters stormed the village on Thursday, looting and burning homes and property.
By Friday, a local hospital had received at least 80 bodies, including 24 women and children, said a doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.
No one from RSF responded to a request for comment.
The RSF has been repeatedly accused of massacres, rapes and other serious violations of the law throughout the country. In June, the RSF attacked the provincial capital of Sinar, the town of Singa, about 350 kilometers southeast of Khartoum. They looted the city’s main market and seized the main hospital, forcing thousands of people to flee.
The latest attack comes as the US is leading efforts to renew peace talks between the official army and the RSF. The talks, boycotted by the military, began last week in Switzerland.
The negotiations were attended by diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations. The RSF sent a delegation to Geneva, but did not participate in the meetings.
Sudan has been engulfed in violence since April 2023 when tensions between the official army led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – escalated into open armed conflict.
Since then, the fighting has spread to several parts of the country, with the capital Khartoum and neighboring Omdurman becoming an urban battleground. The conflict has also fueled ethnic violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
According to the latest UN data, more than 10 million people have been displaced in Sudan due to the fighting, of which 4.3 million are internally displaced within Sudan, and over two million have fled to neighboring countries. The UN refugee agency claims that an “unimaginable humanitarian crisis” is unfolding in Sudan.
