Sudanese Doctors Network: Rebels kill 27 people in southern Sudan

At least 27 people have been killed in the latest wave of ethnic clashes in southern Sudan, a local medical organization said today.

According to the Sudanese Doctors Network, which monitors the number of victims in the war-torn East African country, the killings were committed by members of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-N (SPLM-N) in the towns of Kardud and Abu Hamama, areas inhabited by the Otoro tribe, in South Kordofan province.

Earlier this year, intense fighting broke out between forces affiliated with the SPLM-N and members of the Otoro tribe, a minority ethnic group in the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan.

This ethnic conflict, which initially began over land disputes, is an additional complication in the civil war that has been going on in Sudan since April 2023, when conflict broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The attacks forced large numbers of people to flee to Abu Hitan, a nearby village, and Kadugli, the largest town in South Kordofan, doctors said.

The Sudanese Doctors Network said on Facebook that it specifically emphasizes “that targeting unarmed civilians, including women and children, on ethnic grounds constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law.”

The humanitarian organization called on the international community to put pressure on the SPLM-N leadership to stop attacks on civilians, saying that women were among those injured in the latest attacks.

The SPLM-N is a breakaway faction of the SPLM, the ruling party in neighboring South Sudan. Its leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, has allied his fighters with RSF forces and joined a parallel RSF-led government.

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