RSF blamed for drone strike that hit funeral near el-Obeid, killing many mourners

At least 40 people in Sudan were killed in a drone strike targeting a funeral being held outside the army-held town of El-Obeid in North Kordofan state, officials and activists said.

They blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) for Monday’s attack on the village of Al-Luwaib, where mourners had gathered in a tent. RSF has yet to comment.

Many were reported to have died before reaching the hospital in el-Obeid, a strategic town that connects the capital Khartoum with the western region of Darfur.

Fighting intensified in the oil-rich Kordofan region and about 20,000 people fled to el-Obeid last week after the RSF captured the town of Bara, 30 km (18 miles) north of the city.

The city fell at the same time as the city of El-Fasher, which was the army’s last stronghold in Darfur.

Since then, there have been reports of mass killings, sexual violence, kidnappings and widespread looting in al-Fasher by RSF fighters.

The UN said summary executions of civilians by RSF fighters were also reported in Barra.

Such atrocities may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, warned the International Criminal Court (ICC)..

The RSF leader promised to investigate the “violations”, but his paramilitary group denied widespread claims that the killings in el-Fasher were ethnically motivated and followed a pattern of Arab paramilitaries targeting non-Arab populations.

The ICC statement came after a global panel of food security experts confirmed on Monday that residents of al-Fasher are suffering from hunger following the RSF’s 18-month siege of the city.

The UN-accredited Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) Network also said the town of Kadugli in South Kordofan state was at its most catastrophic stage of famine.

The town, nearly 300 km south of el-Obeid, is also surrounded and deprived of supplies by the RSF.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate end to violence in Sudan, warning that the humanitarian crisis is rapidly worsening.

“The horrific crisis in Sudan … is spiraling out of control,” he said on the sidelines of a summit in Doha.

“El Fasher and the surrounding areas… have been the epicenter of suffering, hunger, violence and displacement – and since the Rapid Support Force entered El Fasher last weekend, the situation has worsened every day,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.

Guterres called on the army and the RSF to sit down at the negotiating table and “end this nightmare of violence.”

A Sudanese government source told AFP that authorities were considering the US proposal for a truce.

Washington – along with other countries – is pushing for a ceasefire and a road map to end the conflict.

There have been several rounds of peace talks in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain – but they have failed – and both sides have shown reluctance to agree to a ceasefire.

The North Kordofan Resistance Committee, a volunteer aid group, said the attack on the village, which is 15km east of el-Obeidz, took place on Monday.

Mohamed Ismail, North Kordofan’s humanitarian aid commissioner, told the new Sudan Tribune website: “Drones belonging to the Rapid Support Force militia attacked citizens who were attending a funeral, resulting in the death of 40 people and the wounding of dozens.”

Last week, the UN said el-Obeid was already struggling to cope with the influx of people fleeing Barra.

Since the civil war between the army and the RSF broke out in April 2023, more than 150,000 people have died, some 12 million have fled their homes in what the UN has called the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.