Fighting kills at least 65 in Sudan's Darfur region

The El-Fasher Resistance Committee issued a statement on July 29 stating that at least 65 people, mostly children, have been killed since July 27 due to rocket attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the city of El-Fasher in Sudan's Darfur region.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, is the largest city in Sudan's vast western region not currently under the control of the RSF, which has besieged the city of El-Fasher since May.

In a statement, the El-Fasher Resistance Committee accused “RSF of killing more than 43 children, 13 women and 9 men, all civilians, in the city of El-Fasher in just three days.”

“More than 70 rockets were fired by Janjaweed militias in just one day to attack hospitals, homes, mosques and markets,” the statement said.

The Janjaweed were the predecessor force of the RSF.

On social network X, Darfur Governor Mini Minawi wrote: “Today (July 29) is one of the bloodiest days in El-Fasher for civilians, mosques and hospitals, especially the Saudi Arabia Hospital.”

Earlier, a medical source at the facility said the shelling on July 27 killed 22 people.

The conflict in Sudan – between the RSF led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo against the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – has left tens of thousands of people dead.

Even according to estimates by US Special Envoy to Sudan Tom Perriello, this number could be up to 150,000 people.

The United Nations assesses that Sudan is facing the world's largest internal displacement crisis, with more than 7 million people forced to seek refuge within the country or abroad because of the war, in addition to the 3.8 million people already displaced.

The conflict in Sudan has raised warnings of famine, and both sides have been accused of war crimes.

US mediators will launch a new effort in Switzerland next month to broker an end to the conflict in Sudan.

The negotiation process is expected to begin on August 14, co-chaired by the US and Saudi Arabia, with the participation of the African Union (AU), Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Nations as observers.