The Sudanese government alleges a militia is responsible for the deaths of multiple individuals in a massacre.
The Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council has accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of conducting a horrific massacre.
The Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), a key opposition party, claimed in a statement that over one hundred individuals were killed and numerous others injured during an RSF assault on Wednesday morning in Wad Al-Noura village, Al-Jazira State. This region, known as the country's breadbasket, is situated in the east-central part of the nation.
The RSF has been engaged in a war with the Sudanese Army (SAF) since April 2023, and the transitional council has requested an immediate halt to what they call crimes and violations against civilians in Al-Jazira and beyond.
Mini Arko Minawi, Governor of Sudan's Darfur Province, has stated that at least 150 individuals perished in the Wednesday attack.
"The Rapid Support militia commits a massacre and annihilates the village of Wad al-Noura... The number of victims exceeds 150 people, including children, women and the elderly," Minawi stated in a post on X platform.
Videos circulating on social media and geolocated by CNN show a sizable crowd in Wad Al-Noura encircling dozens of dead bodies, draped in white, as they prepared for burial.
Another video purportedly shows the RSF militia firing heavy and medium weapons towards the village.
CNN cannot independently confirm the precise number of casualties.
The RSF alleged in a statement on Wednesday that they carried out a preemptive strike on Sudanese Army (SAF) camps in Wad Al-Noura in response to a planned attack by the army.
According to the RSF, eight of its personnel were killed, others were injured, and they confiscated vehicles, weapons, and military equipment during the operation.
They did not acknowledge the civilian fatalities reported in the statement shared on the social media platform, X.
The Transitional Sovereignty Council denounced the RSF's actions, categorizing them as part of a deliberate campaign of violence against civilians. "This heinous crime joins the series of crimes committed by this rebel militia in various states of Sudan. These are criminal acts that reveal the militia's habitual behavior of targeting civilians, stealing their belongings, and forcing them from their homes," the Council stated.
The council, led by junta commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has governed Sudan since former President Omar al-Bashir was deposed in 2019.
Accusations of massacres
Since the conflict began, both the Sudanese army and the RSF have encountered serious allegations of civilian massacres. The RSF has concentrated its efforts on villages in Al-Jazira, Sudan's agricultural stronghold, to recruit new members via forced conscription and by using starvation as a weapon, according to eyewitnesses.
In March, eyewitnesses informed CNN that more than 700 individuals, including various children, were conscripted into the militia group from Al-Jazira state. The RSF denied this claim.
Additionally, CNN documented an RSF-led campaign of enslavement and other atrocities by the paramilitary group and its affiliated militias in Sudan's western Darfur region – a region already scarred by what many consider the 21st century's first genocide.
Al-Tahir Ibrahim Al-Khair, the Governor of Al-Jazira, denounced the RSF's vicious deeds. In a statement disseminated through the state news agency SUNA, he referred to these actions as "war crimes" and demanded international disapproval and accountability.
Since the civil war began in April 2023, more than 7.1 million individuals have been internally displaced in Sudan, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in a report released on Thursday.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also stated that more than 8.8 million people have left their homes, and 24.8 million individuals need humanitarian aid since the war's inception.
Last week, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu cautioned the UN Security Council, asserting, "The situation today exhibits all the hallmarks of a risk of genocide, with credible accusations that this crime has already been committed."
Read also:
The international community should condemn the ongoing violence in Sudan and urge both the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces to respect civilian rights. The massacres in Africa are a concern for the world, with Sudan being just one of many regions dealing with such atrocities.
