Local security conflict

Ninety-one civilians have died in the city of Hilaliya in Sudan’s eastern Al-Jezira State, which has been besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for two weeks, activists said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.
“The city [of Hilaliya] has become a large prison, with nearly 100,000 residents suffering from this two-week-long blockade awaiting certain death,” the Nidaa Al-Wasat Platform, a volunteer group monitoring rights violations in central Sudan, reported. The platform warned that the besieged civilians lack the most basic life necessities, including medical care and medicines.
According to the Platform, 79 civilians have died after eating food distributed to them by the RSF, while 12 civilians have been shot to death by the RSF.
The Platform called on humanitarian and international organisations to intervene and save the citizens trapped in the city. The RSF did not comment on the activists’ accusations.
Late on Wednesday, the Sudanese Doctors Union said at least 73 people have died of mysterious causes in Hilaliya.
The city is one of dozens of villages that have come under attack in eastern Al-Jezira state since the defection of a top RSF commander to the army, which prompted revenge attacks that have displaced more than 135,000 people.
The attacks come amid accusations against the RSF of “violations and mass killings” targeting civilians in Al-Jezira, though the RSF has not responded to the claims.
Clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese army resumed in Al-Jezira on 20 October, after RSF leader Abu Aqla Kikil, a native of the area, defected and declared his allegiance to the army.
By December 2023, Kikil’s RSF faction had taken control of several cities in Al- Jezira, including Wad Madani, the state’s capital.
The RSF currently controls large swaths of Al- Jezira, excluding Al Manaqil and its surrounding areas, which stretch southward to the border of Sennar State and westward to the border of White Nile State.
Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF have been engaged in a conflict that has resulted in more than 20,000 deaths and displaced nearly 10 million people, according to the UN.
There have been growing calls from the UN and international bodies to end the conflict, as the war has pushed millions of Sudanese to the brink of famine and death due to food shortages, with the fighting spreading to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.