Sudanese paramilitary forces kill at least 28 people in an attack in Darfur, medical group says

There was no immediate comment from the RSF and motives for the attack were not immediately known.

Sudan’s war erupted in 2023 after tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into fighting that began in Khartoum, the country’s capital, and spread nationwide. The conflict has killed thousands and triggered mass displacement, disease outbreaks and severe food insecurity. Aid workers have been frequently targeted.

Repeated attempts at peace talks by various countries and groups have failed to end the war.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment Tuesday of Finland’s former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto as the new personal envoy to Sudan to focus on peace efforts, replacing Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria.

Haavisto, currently a member of Finland’s parliament, has held senior roles with the U.N. and European Union and has broad experience in mediating and negotiating crises in Africa, including as the EU special representative for Sudan from 2005 to 2007, the U.N. chief said.

The medical group said RSF shelling hit the town’s health care center on Monday, after which the paramilitary fighters assaulted medical staff and detained at least one of them.

The RSF fighters had begun their offensive on the town over the weekend with drone strikes that hit Hilal’s guesthouse. On Monday, they launched a major ground offensive and took over the town.

Emergency Lawyers, an independent group documenting atrocities in Sudan, said RSF fighters torched many houses in the town, forcing people to flee to nearby villages.

The seizure of Misteriha would likely assert RSF control of Darfur. However, it risks escalating tribal tensions in an area long known for violence and war.

Monday’s attack came four months after the RSF overran el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur after 18 months of siege. The paramilitaries killed more than 6,000 people between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 in the city. The attack was marked by atrocities that U.N.-backed experts said bore “ the hallmarks of genocide.”

The war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with over 14 million forced to flee their homes. It has fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country into famine that still spreads as fighting shows no sign of abating.

The latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification earlier this month warned that severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous and deadly form of malnutrition, is expected to increase to 800,000 cases, up 4% from 2025.

Aid groups have long struggled to meet the growing needs of displaced people across the country and called for a ceasefire to secure aid delivery to remote areas in Darfur and Kordofan — another hotbed in the war.

“The main thing that needs to happen is, of course, a ceasefire,” said Zia Salik, interim U.K. director of Islamic Relief, an aid group working in Sudan. “Ultimately, that is what’s causing the pain and the difficulty for all of the civilians that are caught in the crosshairs.”

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Associated Press writers Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Sudanese paramilitary forces kill at least 28 people in an attack in Darfur, medical group says

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