Over 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured by a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) airstrike on a market in Kabkabiya, North Darfur, on 9 December. The town is about 180 km west of Darfur’s capital El Fasher, which has been under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary since May. According to a group of pro-democracy lawyers, “the airstrike took place on the town’s weekly market day, for which residents from various nearby villages had gathered to shop, resulting in the death of more than 100 people, with hundreds injured, including women and children.”
Civilians in numerous areas of Darfur are under attack. The same group of lawyers reportedly claims that, on the same day, “three neighbourhoods were hit with barrel bombs in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.” Meanwhile, Save The Children says “no place is safe now for children sheltering from ongoing conflict in North Darfur” – after the RSF shelled the large Zamzam refugee camp there.
As the SAF and the UAE-backed RSF wrestle for control over territories, it’s the Sudanese people en masse that are suffering the brunt of the proxy-war that began in April 2023. The RSF faces the largest number of allegations of genocidal violence, but the SAF is also implicated in atrocities against civilians – as the Kabkabiya market strike would seem to confirm.
Darfur has witnessed atrocities against its population in all previous wars in Sudan – predominantly carried out by the Janjaweed militia on behalf of the Sudanese government. Today’s RSF consists primarily of former Janjaweed fighters and, prior to the current war, the paramilitary and the Sudanese army – now at odds – were allies who colluded in the systematic ethnic cleansing of Darfur’s non-Arab populace.
SOURCES:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/10/airstrike-north-darfur-market-kills-people-sudan
https://www.newarab.com/news/air-strike-north-darfur-market-kills-more-100
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/sudan-unrest-what-is-the-rapid-support-forces
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wlp15400eo
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-army-air-strikes-kills-over-100-north-darfur-market