The blockade by Sudanese paramilitaries in the city of Hilaliya already leaves more than 300 dead, according to NGO

More than 300 people have already died in the Sudanese city of Hilaliya after several weeks of blockade by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a local NGO, within the devastating armed conflict that has faced since April 15 of last year Sudanese army with this armed group.

The city of Hilaliya is located in the state of Gezira, where two weeks ago a senior RSF official “defected” and, in retaliation, has since orchestrated a campaign of atrocities against the civilian population in dozens of localities in the state, such as Hilaliya.

In Hilaliya, 70 kilometers from the state capital, Wad Madani, the paramilitaries have carried out a range of atrocities that have even included poisoning food and drinking water sources, an accusation that the RSF denies and attributes to a possible cholera outbreak.

This Sunday, the Nidaa al Wasat platform put the death toll in the city at more than 300, counting “poisoned, executed and deceased due to a worsening of their health”, according to a statement collected by the Sudan Akhbar portal. In addition, the paramilitaries are arresting people in the city’s main mosques and looting everything in their path.

The NGO considers it “unacceptable” that the RSF is trying to justify in any way the crimes committed against citizens under the argument that they are looking for sympathizers of the “defector” commander, Abu Aqla Kakil, and demands the complete lifting of the blockade.

Gezira was, until a few months ago, one of the last safe areas in the country, but the war has ended up reaching a state that houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people from other areas. The capital is protected by the Army and related militias but other parts of the state have been left completely unguarded.