Mon Sep 09 15:06:22 UTC 2024: ## Paramilitary Gunfire Rocks Sudan’s Sennar After Deadly Market Shelling
**Sennar, Sudan** – Renewed gunfire erupted in Sudan’s southeastern city of Sennar on Monday, following a deadly shelling incident at a market the previous day that killed at least 30 people, according to activists and witnesses. The shelling, blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), occurred in one of the few remaining cities in Sennar state not under the control of the paramilitary group.
The RSF has been engaged in a brutal conflict with the Sudanese army for over 16 months, leading to tens of thousands of deaths and the world’s worst internal displacement crisis, according to the UN.
On Sunday, the RSF’s shelling of the market in Sennar came a day after Sudan’s foreign ministry, aligned with the army, rejected a call from independent UN experts for an impartial force to be deployed to protect civilians.
The Sudanese Emergency Lawyers’ group reported 31 civilians killed and 100 wounded in the market attack, while the Sudan Doctors Network, which blamed the RSF, put the death toll at 21 and the number of wounded at around 70.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese Armed Forces carried out strikes elsewhere in Sennar, killing four people, including children. The combined death toll in Sennar from both sides’ artillery fire and blind strikes reached 35.
Fresh unrest was also reported in El-Fasher, a city in the western Darfur region that has been under siege by the RSF for months. The Darfur governor said the paramilitaries had attacked El-Fasher using drones.
The war, which began in April 2023, pits the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the RSF commanded by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The UN Human Rights Council’s independent experts condemned the violations committed by both sides, which they say may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. They urged the deployment of an independent force to protect civilians, a proposal rejected by the Sudanese government.
Human Rights Watch called for a renewal and expansion of the arms embargo on Sudan, citing the warring parties’ acquisition of new foreign-made weapons and their responsibility for widespread atrocities.
The World Health Organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the humanitarian crisis in Sudan as “shocking” and criticized the insufficient action taken to address the conflict and alleviate the suffering it has caused.
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