Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict since April 2023, pitting the Sudanese army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This ongoing war has led to widespread violence, severe humanitarian crises, and significant displacement across the nation, particularly in the western Darfur region and the vast Kordofan region.

Recent reports highlight a surge in hostilities, with attacks on two towns in western Darfur over the past week resulting in the deaths of 114 people, as confirmed by medical sources. In North Darfur, 51 individuals were killed in drone strikes attributed to the army on the town of Al-Zuruq. These strikes, which occurred on a Saturday, hit a market and civilian areas in Al-Zuruq, a town under RSF control and notably home to family members of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. An eyewitness to the burial confirmed the deaths of two Daglo family members, Moussa Saleh Daglo and Awad Moussa Saleh Daglo.

Further west, RSF fighters launched attacks around Kernoi, near the Chadian border, killing 63 people and injuring 57 by last Friday, with 17 people still reported missing. These attacks caused the displacement of over 7,000 people in just two days last month from Kernoi and the nearby village of Um Baru, many of whom belong to the Zaghawa group, which has been targeted by the RSF and has members fighting alongside the army as part of the Joint Forces.

The conflict has also escalated in the Kordofan region, a crucial oil-rich southern area linking Darfur to the capital Khartoum. On Sunday, a drone strike on El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan and a key army-controlled city, caused a widespread blackout. The national electricity company reported that the El-Obeid power station was attacked by drones, leading to a fire in the machinery building and halting electricity supply. The RSF has been attempting to encircle El-Obeid since last year, having previously tightened its siege around several other army-held cities after seizing the army's last major holdout in Darfur in October.

Both the RSF and the army face accusations of targeting civilian areas, actions that the United Nations has described as a "war of atrocities." The conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced more than 11 million people to flee their homes, either internally or across Sudan's borders. Many of these displaced individuals are now in underdeveloped areas, facing severe shortages of nutrition, medicine, and clean water. The dire situation has led to hundreds of thousands facing mass starvation across the region.

The current violence in Darfur revives grim memories of the mass ethnic atrocities committed in the 2000s by the Janjaweed, the predecessor to the RSF. Recently, the Joint Forces, fighting alongside the army, reported retaking several towns south of El-Obeid, which military sources suggest could open up critical supply routes. Since mid-December, an additional 11,000 people have been displaced from North and South Kordofan states alone, underscoring the relentless human cost of this devastating war.