Images from the site of the strike show mangled metal roofing that used to provide cover for worshippers; it comes as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – or RSF – continue their push to take control of El Fasher, as they battle forces of the military government.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Denise Brown, issued a statement saying she was gravely alarmed by the strike in the besieged capital of North Darfur state.
Call for accountability
“International humanitarian law demands the protection of mosques and the civilians worshipping in them,” she said.
“It is also a war crime to intentionally direct attacks against buildings dedicated to religion. This attack, reportedly carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, must be investigated and the perpetrators held accountable.”
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric reiterated the longstanding call for “an immediate cessation of fire in and around El Fasher,” adding that humanitarian access access for “personnel and supplies must be facilitated in order for us to reach those in need.”
Civilian deaths mount
In a related development, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that there’s been a sharp rise in civilian killings, including summary executions, along with growing ethnic violence in Sudan.
Several major offensives have been particularly deadly, including an April attack by the RSF on besieged El Fasher and elsewhere in North Darfur that left at least 527 dead, and airstrikes in March by the Sudanese Armed Forces on Tora market in North Darfur that killed at least 350 civilians, including 13 members of one family.
The situation in El Fasher is dire and worsening, said OHCHR’s Li Fung, who said reports continue of civilians being killed, abducted or subjected to sexual violence while fleeing the city.
“There are no safe exit routes out of the city, and civilians are trapped in a situation of impossible choices: stay in El Fasher, and risk bombardment, starvation, and atrocities if the RSF overrun the city; or flee, and face the risk of summary execution, sexual violence, and abduction.”
The Sudan war began in April 2023 when the peaceful transition to civilian rule broke down and fighting erupted between the former allies-turned deadly rivals.
Since then, not a single ceasefire has been acted on by either of the warring parties, noted UN partner, the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC.
Call for diplomacy in New York
It issued an appeal to world leaders preparing to gather at the UN in New York for the UN General Assembly starting next week to agree on ways to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people, who are facing famine and a massive humanitarian disaster.
ICRC Regional Director for Africa Patrick Youssef urged “a coalition of States” to work on “alternatives or incentives” to warfare including the creation of safe humanitarian corridors.
In the last two years, more than 20 Sudanese Red Crescent workers have been killed, reflecting “the dire situation of humanitarians trying to cross every frontline in Sudan,” Mr. Youssef told journalists in Geneva.
