Rocket fire in Sudan's Darfur kills 16 civilians

War in Sudan has left at least 3,000 dead across country

Sudanese women, who fled the conflict in Darfur region, load their cooking wood onto a water tanker to be driven to makeshift shelters, in Adre, Chad, on July 20, 2023. Reuters

Sixteen civilians were killed as rockets fell on their homes in the West Darfur region of Sudan, a lawyers' union said on Saturday.

The vast region, the scene of conflict in the early 2000s, has suffered some of the worst of the violence since fighting between rival military forces began in mid-April.

“During an exchange of rocket fire between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), 16 civilians were killed on Friday, according to a preliminary toll, in Nyala,” the South Darfur state capital, the union said.

At least one man was killed by a sniper, it said.

In the West Darfur capital of El Geneina, near Chad, snipers have reportedly been shooting at residents from rooftops since fighting began, and tens of thousands of people have fled across the border.

The war, which broke out in the capital Khartoum on April 15 and spread to Darfur that month, has left at least 3,000 dead across Sudan, according to one estimate.

It pits the Sundanese Armed Forces led by Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan against his former deputy Gen Mohamed Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary RSF.

Fighting in Darfur, an RSF stronghold, has recently concentrated around Nyala, after clashes in El Geneina where the UN had reported atrocities.

Battles have also continued in and around Khartoum. Residents on Saturday reported army air strikes on villages in the Al Jazirah state's north, just south of the capital.

The fertile land between the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers now hosts several hundred thousands of the estimated 3.3 million people the war has displaced.

If fighting expands into Al Jazirah, they may be forced to flee again.

The humanitarian workers who support them would have to move as well, but fear the many bureaucratic challenges in relocating their operations.

Analysts said both warring sides would like the battlefield to expand.

“The RSF has held the upper hand in Khartoum since the early days of the war, but that advantage is only growing more apparent,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said.

The army on July 15 launched a major offensive in North Khartoum, flattening entire suburban neighbourhoods with air raids, “but it failed spectacularly”, ICG said.

The RSF, meanwhile, are trying to seize the main Darfur-Khartoum road to ensure a constant supply of fighters and weapons.

Both Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo have representatives in Saudi Arabia, where truce talks have been scheduled to take place.

But on Friday, the government in Khartoum denied “any information concerning a near truce”.