Worsening Sudan Conflict Sees Surge in Ethnic Violence and Civilian Deaths
Armed conflict and rivalry over power and dominance continues to ravage the already-devastated Sudan. UN has warned of escalating impact and the unprecedented toll on civilian population.
A recent drone strike by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a mosque in El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, has killed over 75 worshippers, including displaced persons, according to a report from Anadolu Agency. The attack occurred during morning prayers at the Al-Safiya Mosque. The Sudan Doctors’ Network condemned the incident as a “grotesque crime” and a “fully-fledged war crime.”
This strike comes as the war in Sudan has intensified since the beginning of the year, with a deeply worrying increase in ethnic violence and summary executions, as reported by the United Nations. The UN rights chief, Volker Turk, warned of the “increasing ethnicization of the conflict” between the regular armed forces and the RSF, which has been ongoing since April 2023.
A new UN report from the UN rights office details that the war has expanded and intensified in the first half of 2025, with “a devastating impact on the civilian population.” The conflict has effectively split the country, with the army holding the north, east, and center, while the RSF controls parts of the south and nearly all of the western Darfur region. The report documented at least 3,384 civilian deaths in the first six months of the year, which accounts for about 80% of the total number of killings documented in all of last year. At least 990 of these deaths were due to summary executions outside of direct fighting.
The conflict has created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with famine declared in several areas and a severe cholera outbreak. Over 2,500 people have already died from the infection. Turk has called for urgent action to protect civilians and ensure the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid.
