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UN: At Least 440 Civilians Killed in South Sudan Clashes

Opposition soldiers pose for a picture while loading their guns in Panyume town, the headquarters for the opposition in Central Equatoria state, in South Sudan. (AP)
Opposition soldiers pose for a picture while loading their guns in Panyume town, the headquarters for the opposition in Central Equatoria state, in South Sudan. (AP)
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UN: At Least 440 Civilians Killed in South Sudan Clashes

Opposition soldiers pose for a picture while loading their guns in Panyume town, the headquarters for the opposition in Central Equatoria state, in South Sudan. (AP)
Opposition soldiers pose for a picture while loading their guns in Panyume town, the headquarters for the opposition in Central Equatoria state, in South Sudan. (AP)

At least 440 civilians died in fighting between warring groups in southwestern South Sudan in just a few months last year, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

“Grave human rights violations and abuses, including hundreds of killings, were committed against civilians during fighting in Tambura County, Western Equatoria State,” according to a joint report by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Human Rights Office.

It said that between June and September last year, at least 440 civilians were killed, 18 injured and 74 abducted during clashes between rival groups, AFP reported.

At least 64 civilians were also subjected to conflict-related sexual violence, among them a 13-year-old girl who was gang-raped to death, the report said, while at least 56 people were also reported missing during the June-September period.

In addition, some 80,000 were forced to flee their homes to escape fighting, it said.

“Looting and destruction of property, child conscription, attacks on personnel and facilities, hate speech and incitement to violence were among the other human rights violations the investigation uncovered.”

The report blamed members of the armed forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rivals in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) of Deputy President Riek Machar, and “their respective affiliated militias”.

“We call on all parties to the conflict to hold to account all individuals implicated in the killings, rape and abductions, among other grave human rights violations,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.

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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on a military air base and other facilities in the vicinity of Port Sudan Airport, a Sudanese army spokesperson said on Sunday, in the first RSF attack to reach the eastern port city.
No casualties were reported from the attacks, the spokesperson said.
The RSF has not commented on the incident, Reuters said.
The RSF has targeted power stations in army-controlled locations in central and northern Sudan for the past several months but the strikes had not inflicted heavy casualties.
The drone attack on Port Sudan indicates a major shift in the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The eastern regions, which shelter a large number of displaced people, had so far avoided bombardment.
The army has responded by beefing up its deployment around vital facilities in Port Sudan and has closed roads leading to the presidential palace and army command.
Port Sudan, home to the country's primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport, has been perceived as the safest place in the war-ravaged nation.
In March, the army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, but the paramilitary RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated its position in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.
The conflict between the army and the RSF has unleashed waves of ethnic violence and created what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with several areas plunged into famine.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It ruined much of Khartoum, uprooted more than 12 million Sudanese from their homes and left about half of the 50 million population suffering from acute hunger.
Overall deaths are hard to estimate but a study published last year said the toll may have reached 61,000 in Khartoum state alone in the first 14 months of the conflict.