Fears of new civil war as fighting flares in South Darfur
- Darfur and Sudan’s capital Khartoum have borne the brunt of 4 months of fighting between the army and the paramilitary, led by rival generals vying for power
- At least 3,900 people have been killed nationwide, according to a conservative estimate, and 4 million people uprooted from their homes, UN says
Violence flared in the western Sudanese city of Nyala and elsewhere in the state of South Darfur on Sunday, witnesses said, threatening to engulf the region in Sudan’s protracted war.
Darfur as well as Sudan’s capital Khartoum have borne the brunt of nearly four months of fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by rival generals vying for power.
The conflict has brought daily battles to the streets of the capital of Khartoum, a revival of ethnically targeted attacks in West Darfur, and the displacement of more than 4 million people within Sudan and across its borders into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and other countries.
Clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF have flared periodically in Nyala, the country’s second biggest city and a strategic hub for the fragile Darfur region.
Witnesses said on Sunday that RSF paramilitaries had attacked Nyala with “dozens of military vehicles” and that “hundreds of residents are fleeing intense artillery fire”.
The latest flare-up has lasted three days, with both the army and RSF firing artillery into residential neighbourhoods, witnesses told Reuters. Fighting has damaged electricity, water, and telecoms networks.
