Sudan’s army says it killed Colombian, Ukrainian fighters in Darfur

October 1, 2025 (EL FASHER) – Sudan’s army said on Wednesday it had killed a number of foreign mercenaries, including Colombians and Ukrainians, in the besieged North Darfur city of El Fasher, where a local official said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were shelling civilian shelters.

The army’s 6th Infantry Division said in a statement that its troops ambushed a group of “Colombian and Ukrainian foreigners” who were trying to reach high-rise buildings in residential areas. The statement described them as drone and systems engineers.

It added that other RSF fighters and senior commanders were killed in a separate engagement east of the city. Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

The RSF, which has been fighting the army for control of Sudan since April 2023, has long been accused of using foreign mercenaries in specialist roles.

The battle for El Fasher, the last major city in the vast Darfur region not under RSF control, has intensified in recent weeks. On Monday, the army said it conducted its first successful airdrop of supplies into the city since a plane was shot down in April.

The fighting has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis. A local official accused the RSF of deliberately attacking the city’s displacement shelters to force residents to flee.

“The RSF has deliberately launched systematic attacks on shelters… in a clear attempt to empty the city of its population,” Hassan Saber Juma, a local humanitarian aid official, told Sudan Tribune.

Juma said RSF artillery and drones were targeting sites where civilians displaced from nearby camps and villages had gathered. He said some 250,000 people in about 127 shelters and with host families urgently need food and medicine.

The official called on the U.N. Security Council to sanction RSF leaders for alleged crimes against humanity and to enforce its resolution demanding an end to the siege.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a looming famine and catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the city, which the RSF has encircled since April 2024, blocking aid and trapping hundreds of thousands of civilians.