At least 21 people were killed, and more than 70 others wounded in a devastating shelling attack at a busy market in south-eastern Sudan, according to the Sudan Doctors Network. The attack, which took place in the city of Sennar on Sunday, has been attributed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with the union condemning the incident as a “massacre” of civilians.
The assault occurred just a day after Sudan’s military rejected a UN proposal to deploy an international force to protect civilians. The ongoing civil war, which erupted in April between the army and RSF, has claimed thousands of lives and displaced over 10 million people, plunging Sudan into one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
Despite multiple peace talks brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, the conflict persists. The RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, controls significant areas, including parts of the capital Khartoum, Kordofan state, and much of Darfur. In Sennar, however, the RSF has failed to seize the city from the army, although it controls much of the surrounding state, a key strategic area due to its proximity to Ethiopia and South Sudan and its agricultural value.
Both sides in the conflict have been accused of committing atrocities, with a recent UN fact-finding mission uncovering evidence that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. These findings were swiftly rejected by the Sudanese government, loyal to army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which denounced the UN Human Rights Council as a “political and illegal body.”
The RSF has not commented on the latest attack. However, the group has been seeking to position itself as a legitimate political player on the international stage, participating in peace talks in Switzerland, which the army has thus far ignored.
