En Nuhoud — Five people were shot dead in a raid by paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Doudiya village in En Nuhoud in northern West Kordofan last week. In a revenge attack by the villagers, four RSF soldiers were killed.

A villager told Radio Dabanga from El Doudiya yesterday that five people were killed and 10 others were wounded in an RSF raid on the village on Thursday.

In response, the villages formed a search posse that chased the attackers, and confronted them in the area of Um Samima, west of El Obeid, capital of neighbouring Nord Kordofan.

In the ensuing firefight, four RSF paramilitaries were killed.

Self-defence

Marauding members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are wreaking deadly havoc among civilians in parts of Sudan under the militia's control.

Apart from Khartoum and Darfur, where they, especially in West Darfur, reportedly killed thousands of people last year, paramilitaries are raiding villages in El Gezira since they took control of most parts of the state in December.

The Wad Madani Resistance Committees reported in end February that RSF members raided 53 villages since they took control of El Gezira. The paramilitaries "committed the most heinous crimes" in El Gezira, they stated, "crimes that can be considered war crimes or crimes against humanity".

On Friday, a group of people from El Gezira, in Sudan and abroad, launched the El Gezira Call, urging an immediate stop to the violence, amid fears that residents may take up arms to defend themselves.