United States: At least 73 people have died from unknown causes after attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, in a town in eastern El Gezira state. The violence began after a high-ranking RSF commander defected to the army, sparking revenge attacks by the RSF.
These attacks have caused widespread destruction, displacing more than 135,000 people from their homes. The ongoing conflict has led to severe instability in the region.
A conflict between the two forces has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis globally, with more than 11 million people displaced and others falling into famine while international players and concerns for state failure continue to come in.
As reported by the Reuters, while high death toll in other part of Gezira is attributed to RSF shelling and gunfire, in Hilaliya people have contracted diarrhoea, the union and three people form the area have said that a local hospital had been overwhelmed.
Due to a network blackout instigated by the RSF, the actual cause of this effect is not clear.
Speaking to Reuters, one man said that three of his family members died from the illness, but he only learned this later when others fled to an area that had internet connection.
Another man said those wanting to cross to the other side must pay high charges at RSF check point.
Pro-democracy activists reported the siege started on Oct. 29 when the RSF stormed the town, shooting five people before cornering the rest of the residents in three mosques.
According to this source Hilaliya is the home of the defecting commander Abuagla Keikal, this might be the reason why what had been considered a stable trading center housing fifty thousand residents and many more from other camps were besieged.
They testified that the town’s markets and warehouses were looted.
Yale Humanitarian Lab Satellite report, it revealed that there was a rise in the number of cemeteries in the Gezira towns within a short period when the latest attacks of revenge was started in late October. This it also provided evidence of burning of the agricultural fields in the village of Azrag.