At least 45 civilians were killed in a paramilitary attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the North Darfur town of al-Malha, Sudan, activists reported Saturday.
The RSF, locked in conflict with Sudan’s army since April 2023, announced Thursday that it had seized al-Malha, a strategically located town at the base of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher, the North Darfur state capital.
A resistance committee, a local volunteer aid group based in El-Fasher, released a “preliminary list of the victims of the al-Malha massacre,” attributing the casualties to RSF forces. The group stated that 15 of the dead remained unidentified.
The RSF controls most of Darfur, a region approximately the size of France, but has struggled for months to capture El-Fasher. On Friday, the Sudanese army recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum, dealing a setback to the paramilitary group.
In a statement, the RSF claimed it had “encircled the enemy… leaving more than 380 dead” in al-Malha.
A coalition of armed groups known as the Joint Forces, aligned with the Sudanese army, has repelled RSF offensives and disrupted supply routes from Chad and Libya. Al-Malha, situated in the vast desert between Sudan and Libya, has been a conflict zone for months between RSF fighters and the Joint Forces.
Following military advances in central Sudan, including key victories in Khartoum, analysts suggest the RSF is working to strengthen its control over Darfur.
The war, which erupted in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 12 million people, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, according to the United Nations.
A UN-backed assessment reported famine in three displacement camps near El-Fasher. In the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, home to an estimated one million displaced people, local monitors reported severe shortages of drinking water due to an RSF-imposed siege.
