PORT SUDAN: An attack on a funeral in the key city of El Obeid in Sudan’s central Kordofan region killed 40 people, the UN said on Wednesday, as paramilitaries looked poised to launch an offensive. The United Nations’ humanitarian office did not specify when the attack took place or who was behind it, but said that the situation in the Kordofan region was continuing to worsen. The war in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more, has spread to new areas in recent days, sparking fears of an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the military since 2023, was preparing to launch an assault in Kordofan after capturing El Fasher, the last army stronghold in the vast western Darfur region. “Local sources report that at least 40 civilians were killed and dozens injured yesterday in an attack on a funeral gathering in El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State,” the UN’s OCHA agency said. “Once again, OCHA calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and for all parties to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.”
People forced to flee El Fasher have described horrific abuse at the hands of the RSF. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said more than 300 survivors of physical violence had sought care from its teams in Tawila after a previous RSF assault on the nearby Zamzam camp, which displaced more than 380,000 people last spring. Both sides in the war have been accused of committing atrocities.
The fall of El Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis. The RSF now dominates Darfur and parts of the south, while the army holds the north, east and central regions along the Nile and Red Sea.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese army has received support from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Iran, according to observers. Sudan’s army-backed defence minister on Tuesday said the military would press on with its fight against the RSF after the security and defence council met to discuss a US proposal for a ceasefire.
“We thank the Trump administration for its efforts and proposals to achieve peace,” Hassan Kabroun said in a speech broadcast on state television, while adding that “preparations for the Sudanese people’s battle are ongoing”. “Our preparations for war are a legitimate national right,” he said. No details of the US truce proposal have been made public. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday that Washington wanted “to see this conflict come to a peaceful end, just as we have with so many others, but the reality is it’s a very complicated situation on the ground right now”.
The army-aligned authorities had rejected an earlier truce proposal from the four countries — referred to as the Quad — under which both the army and the RSF would be excluded from a transitional political process. The International Criminal Court on Monday voiced “profound alarm and deepest concern” over the reports from El Fasher, adding that such acts “may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity”. Speaking at a forum in Qatar on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the warring parties to “come to the negotiating table, bring an end to this nightmare of violence — now”. — AFP
