A drone strike on a crowded marketplace in Sudan's North Darfur state killed at least ten civilians on Saturday, underscoring the relentless violence targeting ordinary citizens amid the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The attack hit the Al-Harra market in the town of Al-Malha during peak shopping hours, igniting fires in shops and causing widespread panic among residents. While no group immediately claimed responsibility, the town has been under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since March. This incident is part of a devastating pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure, occurring as the RSF intensifies its offensive in the strategic Kordofan region.
The war's focus has shifted to Kordofan, a resource-rich area that has become the new epicenter of the conflict. Cities like Kadugli and Dilling are under siege by the RSF and allied forces, with the United Nations having declared a famine in Kadugli. An estimated 21.2 million people, nearly half of Sudan's population now face acute food insecurity. The situation is so dire that residents have been forced to forage for food in nearby forests, and humanitarian operations are collapsing. Due to extreme insecurity, aid organizations have evacuated all staff from Kadugli, and the United Nations was forced to relocate its logistics hub from the city.
The RSF's campaign is marked by systematic atrocities. After capturing el-Fasher in October, the group was accused of massacring civilians, with reports of executions, rape, and the abduction of hundreds from a hospital. Research from Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab now indicates the RSF engaged in a "systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence" of these mass killings by burning and burying bodies, a tactic observed at dozens of sites. Furthermore, a recent report documents that the RSF is responsible for 87% of identifiable cases of systematic sexual violence, which is used as a weapon of war.
Despite the scale of the catastrophe, described by aid groups as the world's "most neglected global crisis," international response has been woefully inadequate. Diplomatic efforts, like the U.S.-led "Quad" initiative, have stalled, and critical funding for humanitarian aid has dried up. The UN's World Food Programme has announced it must cut rations to "the absolute minimum for survival" due to a lack of resources. With both warring parties accused of using starvation as a weapon and blocking aid, and their foreign backers continuing to fuel the conflict, millions of Sudanese civilians are trapped in a man-made catastrophe with no end in sight.