May 18. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of Sudan have offered to open evacuation corridors to facilitate the exit of the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in El Fasher, the historic capital of Darfur, for months under siege by this group and the scene of devastating clashes. against the Sudanese Army and related militias.
“We confirm the readiness of our forces to help citizens through safe routes, so that they can go out to the areas they prefer under our protection,” the group said on its X social network account.
In its message, the RSF denies accusations of indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population and asks the people of El Fasher to ignore “malicious calls for mobilization that only serve to throw the people into the furnace of war.”
The paramilitaries also claim that they did not start the latest wave of fighting and instead blame both the army and the militias of the Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by Darfur governor Minni Minawi.
“People know that it was we who had to defend ourselves when some movements, including the Minawi mercenaries, announced the abandonment of neutrality and attacked our forces,” they indicated.
A latest report published this Friday by the Ministry of Health of North Darfur and collected by Radio Dabanga specifically estimates 63 deaths and 388 wounded in one week in El Fasher, figures that also agree with those provided by MSF, although all parties anticipate that The true death toll will almost certainly be significantly higher given the prevailing violence.
The United Nations estimates that at least 16,000 people have died and 33,000 have been injured since the outbreak of the war in Sudan on April 15, 2023, but the international institution recalls that these figures are enormously conservative. The United States has taken as approximate some estimates that speak of at least 150,000 deaths.
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