More than 103 civilians have been killed and at least 88 wounded in a wave of attacks that swept through western Sudan near the Chad border, relief groups said Sunday, underscoring the deepening humanitarian catastrophe as fighting intensifies between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Community responders in North Darfur said repeated RSF assaults between Dec. 22, 2025, and Jan. 16 targeted the Tina locality and surrounding areas, including Um Baru and Kornoy, as the paramilitary force pushed to consolidate control along the frontier.
Public spaces and civilian institutions were hit, entire villages were burned, and more than 18,000 families were forced to flee toward Chad, according to the Tina local emergency room, a grassroots relief committee.
The group warned of a rapid collapse in living conditions, citing shuttered institutions, disrupted basic services and an immediate threat to thousands of civilians. It urged humanitarian agencies and international actors to respond swiftly as needs outpace access.
Displacement is also mounting farther south.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration said 575 people were uprooted from the besieged cities of Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan between Jan. 15 and Jan. 17 amid escalating insecurity.
Field teams reported 215 people fleeing Kadugli on Jan. 17 as conditions deteriorated, while 360 others escaped Dilling over three days, moving north to White Nile State, which remains under army control.
Kadugli and Dilling have endured months of siege by the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, with recurring artillery and drone strikes since the early phase of the war. The IOM described the situation across South Kordofan as “volatile and tense,” adding that monitoring continues as clashes intensify.
Earlier this month, the agency said displacement across North, West and South Kordofan surged to nearly 65,000 between late October and the end of December 2025. Recent fighting has pushed tens of thousands more from their homes, compounding what the UN calls the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The territorial map remains fractured. The RSF controls all five Darfur states, except pockets of northern North Darfur still held by the army.
The military controls most of Sudan’s remaining 13 states, including the capital, Khartoum. Since war erupted in April 2023, thousands have been killed and millions displaced.
Speaking during his first wartime visit to Port Sudan, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said nearly three years of conflict have put Sudan’s people through “horror and hell,” condemning the diversion of resources into advanced weaponry while humanitarian needs soar.
More than 21 million people face acute food insecurity, and roughly two-thirds of the population needs urgent aid, the U.N. says.
Türk also warned of the increasing militarization of society, including the arming of civilians and the recruitment of children.
He said survivors from Darfur described “unbearable” atrocities and cautioned that similar crimes could unfold in Kordofan, now the epicenter of fighting.
Attacks on civilian infrastructure, including markets, hospitals, schools and shelters, could amount to war crimes, he said, calling for accountability regardless of affiliation.
The U.N. has repeatedly flagged foreign interference. The United Arab Emirates has been accused of backing the RSF, claims Abu Dhabi denies, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia support the army, which has also reportedly received drones and arms from Iran and Türkiye.
Mediation efforts have yet to yield a ceasefire, even after global outrage over mass killings, rape and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher.
