Sudanese fleeing a paramilitary force that seized a city in the country’s Darfur region trickled into a nearby refugee camp on Thursday after walking for miles, telling aid workers that roads were littered with bodies. Aid groups feared for the fate of thousands more trying to escape, with hundreds reportedly killed in the turmoil.
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The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Sudan amid international alarm over the bloodshed. UN officials have warned of a rampage by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after it took over the city of El-Fasher, reportedly killing more than 450 people in a hospital and carrying out ethnically targeted killings of civilians and sexual assaults.
Speaking at the meeting, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher criticised the Security Council for not acting sooner in Sudan. The country has been torn for the past two years by a war between the military and the RSF that has killed more than 40,000 people and left more than 14 million displaced.
“Can anyone here say we did not know this was coming?” he said. “We cannot hear the screams, but as we sit here today the horror is continuing. Women and girls are being raped, people being mutilated and killed with utter impunity.”
As the US and others at the gathering called for an end to “external support” for the warring parties, Sudan’s representative accused the United Arab Emirates, a top American ally, of backing the RSF. The Gulf nation has denied reports it provides weapons and funding to the paramilitary forces. A UN panel of experts in 2024 said it found the reports credible.
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