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Sudan’s army said on Thursday it would deliver a “harsh response” to an attack a day earlier on a village by the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that pro-democracy activists said killed more than 100 people.
The attack was the largest in a string of dozens of attacks by RSF soldiers on small villages across the farming state after it took control of the capital Wad Madani in December.
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s statement followed accusations by the local activists that the army did not respond to pleas for help on Wednesday.
The army did not reply to a request for comment.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
“The Secretary-General urges all parties to refrain from any attacks that could harm civilians or damage civilian infrastructure,” Dujarric said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General expresses his deep concern regarding the immense suffering of the Sudanese population as a result of the continued hostilities,” he said. “He stresses that it is high time for all parties to silence their guns across Sudan and commit to a path towards sustainable peace.”
The top UN official in Sudan on Thursday called for an investigation into the attack in Wad al-Noura village in Gezira State in central Sudan.
“Even by the tragic standards of Sudan’s conflict, the images emerging from Wad Al-Noura are heart-breaking,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator Clementine Nkweta-Salami in a statement.
She cited photos shared on social media by the Wad Madani Resistance Committee, which has been tracking such attacks, showing what it described as dozens of victims wrapped for burial.
