Children killed in multiple attacks across the country

Multiple attacks by Sudan’s armed forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have struck various locations across the country now in its third year of a civil war, reports Al Jazeera. At least nine civilians, including four children, were killed and seven injured in attacks on Sunday by the RSF in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, according to the Sudanese army. During a sweep of the city, the SAF killed six RSF members and destroyed three combat vehicles, according to the statement. There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the army report. El-Fasher is the last major city held by SAF in Darfur. For over a year, the RSF has sought to wrest control of it from the SAF, launching regular attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

In the meantime, Sudan’s civil defence forces announced on Sunday that they have full control over fires that erupted at the main fuel depot and other strategic sites in Port Sudan, the seat of the army-backed government, which has come under daily drone attacks blamed on the RSF over the past week. The fires caused by a drone strike on the fuel depot last Monday had spread across 'warehouses filled with fuel', the Sudanese army-aligned authorities said, warning of a “potential disaster in the area'. The Red Sea port city had been seen as a safe haven from the devastating two-year conflict between the SAF and RSF before the drone strikes began on 4 May. The attacks have damaged several key facilities, including the country’s sole international civilian airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station. On Tuesday, Sudanese authorities accused the RSF of being behind the drone strikes. The RSF has not commented on the allegations. Port Sudan is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks ‘threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country’, his spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the UN's top court has dismissed Sudan's case against the UAE accusing the Gulf state of complicity in genocide, reports BBC News. Sudan alleged the UAE supported the RSF in the Sudanese civil war . The UAE categorically denied the accusations, branding the case ‘political theatre’ and ‘a cynical publicity stunt’. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled that the case could not proceed because the UAE had opted out of Article 9 of the Genocide Convention, which means that it cannot be sued by other states over genocide allegations. The court said that it lacked jurisdiction and was therefore ‘precluded by its statute from taking any position on the merits of the claims made by Sudan’. The case was thrown out in a 14-2 vote. Sudan case had claimed that the UAE's alleged military, financial and logistical backing of the RSF – including weapons shipments and mercenary recruitment – enabled systematic attacks against non-Arab communities, particularly the Masalit, in Darfur. The allegations included mass killings, forced displacement and the use of sexual violence as a weapon.