Two Days of Attacks Leave 48 Dead

The city of El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region has been under siege for two days, with attacks by paramilitaries leaving 48 people dead and dozens injured. The violence erupted as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army vied for control of the North Darfur state capital.

On Friday alone, artillery fire from the RSF killed 30 people and wounded many others, according to a medical source at El-Fasher Teaching Hospital. This followed an assault on a market the previous day, which left 18 dead, some burned and others killed by shrapnel.

The plight of El-Fasher has been a major topic of discussion at the UN General Assembly in New York this week. World leaders have appealed for an end to the suffering in Sudan, where 17 months of fighting between the RSF and the regular army have killed tens of thousands of people.

The Teaching Hospital is one of the last still receiving patients in El-Fasher. The UN chief, Antonio Guterres, has called for an urgent ceasefire, while the US President, Joe Biden, has urged all countries to cut off weapons supplies to the warring generals.

The RSF, which has its origins in Darfur's notorious Arab tribal militias, the Janjaweed, has been specifically accused of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The war has displaced more than half of Darfur's 10 million people, creating a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions.

Meanwhile, the war has also spread to the capital, Khartoum, where air strikes and shelling rocked the city on Thursday. Witnesses reported a "large-scale offensive" by the army, the first in months, with gunfire and artillery ringing through the streets.

The war in Sudan has been marked by mass human rights violations, including systematic sexual violence, summary executions, and the looting of humanitarian aid. The UN estimates that 6.7 million people in Sudan are in need of services related to gender-based violence, and this figure is expected to rise.

As famine threatens displaced populations across the country, women and girls are particularly vulnerable. The UN warns that they are "eating least and last," exacerbating the already dire situation.

The international community has called for an immediate end to the violence and a political solution to the conflict. However, with the warring factions entrenched and the humanitarian crisis deepening, the future of Sudan remains uncertain.