Yaounde — Cameroon is trying to register voters before the nearing deadline. But the political opposition and civil society say most qualified voters are reluctant to register because they think President Paul Biya plans to rig elections. Barely 50% of qualified civilians have registered for the election expected in October 2025.

Cameroon’s elections management body, ELECAM, says 7.9 million civilians have registered as voters ahead of the August 31 deadline set by the central African states electoral law.

Cameroon is preparing for presidential elections next year to end an ongoing seven-year mandate. The date for the presidential polls will be decided by longtime leader Paul Biya.

Biya was declared the winner of the country’s 2018 presidential polls, even though some opposition and civil society groups reject the results and accuse Biya of massive fraud to maintain his grip on power.  

Cameroon rights groups say citizens are afraid to register because voters who protested what they claim was the stolen victory of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, or MRC, leader Maurice Kamto in 2018 were jailed for rebellion and attempted insurrection.

The MRC and a coalition of political parties that support Kamto say they will not tolerate fraud and electoral malpractice during the expected 2025 polls. They are urging civilians to register because voter registration is fundamental to credible elections.

The opposition and civil society say they have sent caravans to towns and villages all over Cameroon to encourage citizens to register and qualify to vote before registration ends in 10 days.

A member of the opposition moves in neighborhoods in Buea, capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region, is asking people who expect to register to also be ready to protest, should the polls be rigged.

Tamfu Richard is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, or CPNR. Richard said the CPNR is particularly encouraging disgruntled youths who constitute a majority of Cameroon’s population to register, vote and come out massively to protest, should their victory be stolen again. 

He said the opposition will not allow Biya and his government to continue ruling Cameroon with an iron fist.

“Cameroon is at a crossroads where the current leader is of age and has been there for 42 years, so it is in the interest of Cameroonians to have a different face, somebody who is young at the helm. It is in the interest of Cameroonians to make sure that they massively register, supervise their votes and defend it when the time comes,” he said. 

Cameroon’s opposition and civil society estimate there are close to 16 million potential voters in the country of about 30 million civilians. 

Forty-seven-year-old merchant Emmanuel Neba said a majority of Cameroonians are reluctant to register because they believe Biya, who has been in power for over four decades, wants to rule until he dies. 

“We know that Paul Biya will still win the elections. In America Joe Biden is 82 and he abandoned his candidacy to a younger person, but in Cameroon, Paul Biya who is 91 wants to continue to be president forever, and that is why the youths are not eager to go and register to{qualify} to vote,” he said.

Cameroon opposition and civil society say citizens should emulate the example of Chad, which has more than 8.2 million registered voters among a population of about 18 million. They say Cameroonians should also get inspired by Senegal where over 7 million people in a population of about 17.5 million registered for the West African state’s March 19 presidential elections.

Opposition and civil society proponents say that the massive involvement of youth in Senegal made victory possible for 40-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye over 62-year-old Macky Sall, who was running for a third term as president in the West African country.

Cameroon government officials assert Biya has won all presidential elections he contested since the return of multiparty politics in 1990. The government refutes opposition claims that Biya is planning to rig elections next year and warns civilians against what officials say is increasing hate speech ahead of the polls.

Opposition and civil society say the Cameroon government considers criticizing Biya hate language and threatens arrests.

Biya has not publicly announced that he will run again in the October 2025 presidential elections, but his supporters and government ministers have been organizing political rallies calling on him to run again.
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Gaborone, Botswana — Health officials in Botswana have started screening travelers for mpox at the country’s entry points. 

Neighboring South Africa has recorded three deaths as a result of the dangerous strain of mpox, and Botswana is anxious to keep out the rapidly spreading disease.

“Although we have not recorded any case of mpox in Botswana, I want to take this opportunity to assure Botswana that we have significantly enhanced our broader surveillance systems,” the country’s minister of health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, told the media Tuesday. “We are currently intensifying our surveillance at key entry points, which is borders and airports, focusing on high-risk areas.”

South Africa shares a 1,900-kilometer border with Botswana and as of Aug. 5 had recorded three mpox deaths. In Africa, the disease has claimed the lives of more than 500 people since the beginning of the year.

Botswana Public Health Institute Acting Director Dr. Thebeyame Matsheka says travelers will be required to fill out self-assessment forms at border checkpoints.

“There are sometimes where, through just random checks, we might identify someone who appears not to be well, they will take those travelers aside and investigate further,” Matsheka said.

Meanwhile, Dikoloti said Botswana is engaging with international partners for the supply of vaccines.

According to Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the continent has about 200,000 vaccine doses against a requirement of at least 10 million doses.

Medication to be used for the management of mpox is available at health facilities throughout the country.

“Vaccines exist for mpox but they are not widely available,” Dikoloti added. 

The World Health Organization country representative, Juliet Bataringaya, says the scale of the mpox vaccination will not be broad because the disease affects countries differently.

“We need to have a good understanding of the epidemiology in each and every country, because it is different and to understand the transmission patterns,” Bataringaya said. “These will then guide on the use of vaccines in a more targeted way to have maximum public health impact.”

She said there won’t be the kind of mass vaccination effort implemented during the COVID pandemic because the modes of transmission are different.
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Harare, Zimbabwe — Human rights organizations reacted angrily Tuesday after Zimbabwe’s ruling party acknowledged that more than 100 activists were detained to keep them from protesting during a Southern Africa Development Community summit held over the past weekend.

Authorities said they will start to release those who were detained now that the meeting is over.

Speaking with journalists in Harare, ruling ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended detaining the activists.

“Those are deviants, and they were dealt with properly. And we are very happy they failed. And they will never succeed again,” Mutsvangwa said as he giggled at several points during his comments.

Roselyn Hanzi, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing the activists, said that their detention is no laughing matter.

“Every person in Zimbabwe should be worried where the ruling party openly admits that it fully controls one of the key arms of government that is supposed to provide checks and balances and in fact protect the citizens from the excesses of the other two arms: the legislature and the executive,” she told VOA.

“The judiciary is very key and plays a central role in protecting citizens and ensuring that their rights are realized,” she said. “In this case, you see them admitting that there [are] those people that wanted to protest. … Protest[ing] is not criminal, and it’s not a privilege. You should not be negotiating or begging for it.”

Zimbabwe’s Judicial Service Commission did not comment Tuesday when contacted by VOA.

Mary Lawlor, a U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, called for the immediate release of the activists, alleging that some had been tortured during their detainment by Zimbabwean authorities. State prosecutors and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said they are investigating the allegations.

“The disrespect shown by the ZANU-PF spokesperson who laughed and joked about such a serious matter at his press conference is telling,” Lawlor said. “The president, [Emmerson] Mnangagwa, has shown how little he believes in the rule of law and how little in SADC’s commitment to human rights as chairman. He wants to pretend that everything in Zimbabwe is rosy and fine. But it is not fine. These charges were a travesty.”

Since taking over in 2017, Mnangagwa has maintained that he is a constitutionalist and respects the rule of law.

But rights lawyer and legislator Daniel Molokele said the law is being selectively applied against democracy activists. Molokele is a member of the country’s main opposition party — the Citizens Coalition for Change — whose members were arrested ahead of the SADC meeting.

“I think what the ZANU-PF spokesperson said clearly confirms what we have always said is happening in Zimbabwe,” Molokele said. “There is too much political interference in the judicial system. There is no rule of law in Zimbabwe. We do not have a proper judicial system because it’s clear that ZANU-PF is abusing our court system for its political benefit.”

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it hopes the detained activists will be released soon, now that the SADC summit is over. The group said it will decide what steps to take next after hearing from the activists.
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Nairobi — A suspect who police said confessed to killing 42 women and was being detained over the discovery of dismembered bodies in Kenya’s capital has escaped from police custody, officials said Tuesday.

Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said Collins Jumaisi Khalusha escaped along with 12 other inmates of Eritrean nationality who had been arrested for being in the country illegally.

Acting police inspector general Gilbert Masengeli said disciplinary measures have been taken against eight officers, including the area and station commanders and officers who were on duty. 

“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was aided by insiders considering that officers were deployed accordingly to guard the station,” he said. 

A police report said the inmates escaped early Tuesday morning after they cut through wire mesh in the cell and scaled the perimeter wall. The escape was discovered as breakfast was being taken into the cell. 

Khalusha, 33, was being detained at the police station after a court allowed detectives seven more days to investigate his alleged crimes before charging him. 

Khalusha was arrested in July after 10 bodies and several body parts were found wrapped in plastic sacks in the Kware area of Nairobi. 

Police said Khalusha confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife. 

“This was a high-value suspect who was to face serious charges. We are investigating the incident and will take action accordingly,” Amin said. 

Khalusha’s lawyer, John Maina Ndegwa, told journalists his client was tortured and forced to confess and maintained he was not guilty. 

Ndegwa told the AP that he last spoke to Khalusha on Friday when he was presented in court. 

“I’m also confounded by the news,” he said. 

The police station from which the suspects escaped was cordoned off with crime scene tape and senior police officers visited it on Tuesday afternoon. 

Two other suspects who were arrested after being found with cellphones belonging to some of the deceased women are to return to court next Monday. 

Police in July said the bodies were discovered after relatives of one missing woman said they had a dream in which she told them to search in a quarry. 

The relatives asked a local diver to help and he discovered the bodies wrapped in sacks. Six bodies were identified after DNA tests, but several body parts remain unidentified. 
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Abuja, Nigeria — Police in Nigeria are searching for 20 medical students who were kidnapped by gunmen Thursday.

The students were on their way to a medical convention when their motorcade was intercepted in central Benue State.

The Benue State police command Monday told VOA it has launched an investigation into the abduction of the medical students and deployed tactical teams on a rescue mission. 

But they said the teams have not reported any success. 

Twenty medical students from universities of Jos and Maiduguri and a medical doctor traveling with them were taken on their way to the conference in eastern Enugu State.

Anene Sewuese Catherine, the Benue state police public relations officer, spoke to VOA via phone.

“The team has moved but we’ve not heard from them,” Catherine said. “Investigation of kidnap is classified, we don’t [share] details or until there’s success. There’s no update for now.”

The abduction sparked widespread condemnation over insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, where authorities have struggled for several years to control violence from armed gangs locally referred to as “bandits.”

Over the weekend, the national police ordered the deployment of helicopters, drones and specialized tactical teams to aid in the search for the medical students. 

The Nigerian Medical Students Association said the abductors, using the students’ phones, issued a demand of about $31,400 to release the entire group.

The association has been urging authorities to secure the release of the students unharmed.

The association’s national president, Moses Onwubuya, said students are threatening to protest if their colleagues are not released soon.

“The only response we’ve been getting is that we should just calm down, that security agencies are in the matter,” Onwubuya said. “Calls have been going out through the phone numbers of our abducted colleagues. Students are agitating, we’re only trying to see if we can abide by the security guidelines, but I can’t guarantee what will happen any moment from now.”

According to Center for Democracy and Development — West Africa, Nigeria recorded more than 4,000 abductions in 2023, accounting for 58 percent of the total cases in West Africa and the highest in five years.

Security analysts say a severe economic crisis in Nigeria is pushing more people toward crime and kidnapping for ransom. 

Nigerian authorities have pledged to address economic problems along with security challenges. Meanwhile, families of victims are hoping their loved ones return to them safely.
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Geneva — Efforts to achieve humanitarian access to millions of desperately needy Sudanese are moving forward but cease-fire negotiations remain dormant because the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) still refuse to send a delegation to the U.S.-sponsored peace talks, a U.S. official says.

U.S. special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello told journalists at a briefing Monday in Geneva that given the urgency of the Sudan crisis, delegations from the United Nations, African Union, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been working “through the night” on issues related to humanitarian assistance and civilian protection.

Perriello said this work is paying off in that Sudan’s military has agreed to open the Adre border crossing with Chad to allow food and other relief supplies to enter conflict-rattled Darfur.

“Along with many, many humanitarian and diplomatic colleagues around the world, we are now on the precipice of Adre being open with over 100 trucks ready to roll as early as tomorrow on something that would often take weeks and weeks, if not months,” he said. “And that means that we can be seeing food and medicine reaching areas like Zamzam camp, where well over 400,000 people have been facing starvation and famine.”

Though only the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have turned up at the talks, Perriello said that active negotiations have been going on with both warring parties since the talks began August 14.

“We have worked virtually through phones with the army to accelerate progress that save lives of the Sudanese,” he said, adding that “if the army delegation were here, I guarantee we would be producing more results for the Sudanese people on humanitarian access and on civilian protection than we can do by phone.”

He said the talks are prioritizing the opening of humanitarian corridors on three roads — the Adre border crossing, Dabar Road and the opening of Sennar junction and Sennar State. This, he said “collectively would ensure that 20 million people who currently are cut off completely or largely from food and medicine would be able to get that relief.”

Taylor Garrett, who heads the Sudan rapid support team for the U.S. government, said, “Those routes will open up assistance to reach really the heartland of the crisis to greater Kordofan, Greater Darfur, White Nile, Blue Nile and Sennar.

“Another point that we have made clear is the need for both sides to allow assistance to flow to areas controlled by the other side, as it moves through their territory. So, regardless of territorial control, the assistance has to reach people,” he said.

“We will continue to move forward on the results that matter and we hope that everyone, including the army would see that this is something that the Sudanese people will respond to very positively,” Garrett said.

Since rival generals of the SAF and RSF plunged Sudan into war 16 months ago on April 15, 2023, the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, estimates more than 18,800 people have been killed and another 33,000 injured.

It reports more than 10.7 million people are displaced inside Sudan, another 2 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries, and about 25.6 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, face acute hunger, including more than 755,000 people on the brink of famine.

“We are in a crisis of epic proportions,” Perriello said. “The sooner the parties engage in full mediation for the cessation of hostilities, the better it will be for everybody in Sudan. But, we will continue to work for those protections that have to be respected even in wartime under both international law and the Jeddah declarations.

The Jeddah declaration is an agreement signed by both the SAF and RSF last year, reaffirming both group’s core obligations under International Humanitarian Law to facilitate humanitarian action to meet the needs of civilians.

“That is what we are going to continue working on,” Perriello said, adding that this current first round of peace talks will continue for a few more days.
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Nairobi — The Kenyan government plans to raise about $1.2 billion by reinstating some unpopular taxes contained in a finance bill that was scrapped in the face of deadly street protests, a government minister said.

President William Ruto had warned of a funding shortfall after he decided in June to drop the controversial tax hikes after a bloody day in Nairobi that saw the storming of parliament and police firing live bullets on demonstrators.

Finance Minister John Mbadi told private station Citizen TV on Sunday that the government was considering about 49 tax measures to try to raise roughly 150 billion shillings ($1.2 billion).

These include the reintroduction of an “eco levy” on goods such as electronic items as well as plastic packaging, that the government says is aimed at reducing waste.

“If you are injurious to the environment then you must pay for helping make good the harm you have caused,” Mbadi said.

Mbadi is one of four opposition stalwarts who joined a revamped cabinet after Ruto vowed to create a “broad-based” government to try to address the concerns of the protesters, led largely by young Gen-Z Kenyans.

After scrapping the 2024 finance bill, which would have raised about $2.7 billion in taxes, Ruto announced government spending cuts and increased borrowing to plug the gap.

Citizen TV said the new measures contained in the tax amendment bill were expected to be in place by the end of September.

The abolition of the 2024 finance bill saw global ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch downgrade Kenya’s credit rating over concerns about the government’s ability to service its $78 billion public debt.
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Rita Mawuena Benissan, a Ghanaian American artist, creates art that reflects the beauty of Ghana’s culture and African history. She’s extending her passion to a campaign that seeks the return of artifacts that were created in Ghana centuries ago but now sit in Western museums. Senanu Tord has this report from Accra, Ghana.
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Cairo — Sudan has been stricken by a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly two dozen people and sickened hundreds more in recent weeks, health authorities said Sunday. The African nation has been roiled by a 16-month conflict and devastating floods.

 

Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement that at least 22 people have died from the disease, and that at least 354 confirmed cases of cholera have been detected across the county in recent weeks.

 

Ibrahim didn’t give a time frame for the deaths or the tally since the start of the year. The World Health Organization, however, said that 78 deaths were recorded from cholera this year in Sudan as of July 28. The disease also sickened more than 2,400 others between Jan. 1 and July 28, it said.

 

Cholera is a fast-developing, highly contagious infection that causes diarrhea, leading to severe dehydration and possible death within hours when not treated, according to WHO. It is transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.

 

The cholera outbreak is the latest calamity for Sudan, which was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group exploded into open warfare across the country.

 

The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields, wrecking civilian infrastructure and an already battered health care system. Without the basics, many hospitals and medical facilities have closed their doors.

It has killed thousands of people and pushed many into starvation, with famine already confirmed in a sprawling camp for displaced people in the wrecked northern region of Darfur.

 

Sudan’s conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. Over 2 million of those fled to neighboring countries.

 

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.

 

Devastating seasonal floods in recent weeks have compounded the misery. Dozens of people have been killed and critical infrastructure has been washed away in 12 of Sudan’s 18 provinces, according to local authorities. About 118,000 people have been displaced due to the floods, according to the U.N. migration agency.

 

Cholera is not uncommon in Sudan. A previous major outbreak left at least 700 dead and sickened about 22,000 in less than two months in 2017.

 

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for WHO, said the outbreak began in the eastern province of Kassala before spreading to nine localities in five provinces.

 

He said in comments to The Associated Press that data showed that most of the detected cases were not vaccinated. He said the WHO is now working with the Sudanese health authorities and partners to implement a vaccination campaign.

 

Sudan’s military-controlled sovereign council, meanwhile, said Sunday it will send a government delegation to meet with American officials in Cairo amid mounting U.S. pressure on the military to join ongoing peace talks in Switzerland that aim at finding a way out of the conflict.

 

The council said in a statement the Cairo meeting will focus on the implementation of a deal between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, which required the paramilitary group to pull out from people’s homes in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

 

The talks began Aug. 14 in Switzerland with diplomats from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations attending. A delegation from the RSF was in Geneva but didn’t join the meetings.
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MLOMP, Senegal — It’s almost dusk, and the West African heat is finally faltering. In Mlomp, a village in southern Senegal, dozens of teenagers in colorful jerseys are throwing each other to the ground to the rhythm of Afrobeats against a backdrop of palm trees. 

It’s a common sight across Senegal, where wrestling is a national sport and wrestlers are celebrated like rock stars. The local variation of wrestling, called laamb in Wolof, one of the national languages, has been part of village life for centuries. Senegalese wrestle for entertainment and to celebrate special occasions. The professional version of the sport draws thousands to stadiums and can be a catapult to international stardom. 

But in most of the country, wrestling remains off-limits for women. 

There is one exception. In the Casamance region, home to the Jola ethnic group, women traditionally wrestle alongside men. At a recent training session in Mlomp, most teenagers on the sandy ground were girls. 

“It’s in our blood,” said coach Isabelle Sambou, 43, a two-time Olympian and nine-time African wrestling champion. “In our village, girls wrestle. My mum was a wrestler, my aunts were wrestlers.” 

But once Jola women marry, they are expected to stop practicing and devote themselves to family life, considered the main duty of Senegalese women regardless of ethnicity or religion. 

Sambou’s aunt, Awa Sy, now in her 80s, was the village champion in her youth, and said she would even take down some men. 

“I liked wrestling because it made me feel strong,” she said, standing outside her house nestled between rice fields and mangroves. “I stopped when I got married.” She didn’t question it at the time. 

That hasn’t been the case for her niece, who, despite her humble demeanor and small size, exudes strength and determination. She defied many barriers to become a professional athlete. 

As a teenager, Sambou was noticed by a professional wrestling coach at a competition during the annual Festival of the King of Oussouye, one of the few events accessible to women. The coach suggested that she try Olympic wrestling, which has a female national team. But she only agreed after her older brother convinced her to do it. 

Wrestling brought Sambou, who did not finish primary school, to the Olympic Games in London and Rio de Janeiro, where she placed outside the medal contenders. But being a successful professional female athlete in a conservative society comes with a price. 

“If you are a female wrestler, people are going to make fun of you,” Sambou said, recalling her experiences in parts of Senegal beyond her home region. “When I walked around in shorts, people were saying: ‘Look, is it a woman or is it a boy?'” 

Others claimed that her body would change and she would no longer look like a woman. 

Such things can “get to your head,” Sambou said. “But I tell myself: They don’t know what they are talking about. It’s in my blood, and it brought me where I am today.” 

In 2016, facing her mid-30s, she decided to retire from professional sport and move back to her village. 

“I thought it was the time to stop and think of something else, maybe find a job, start a family,” she said. “But that hasn’t happened so far.” 

Instead, she focused on finding “future Isabelles.” After not fulfilling her dream of winning an Olympic medal, she hopes a girl she coaches can achieve that. 

That mission has been complicated by the lack of resources. Female sport is often underfunded, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Around Sambou’s village, there are no gyms where girls can do strength training. They don’t have the special shoes used in Olympic wrestling, and instead train barefoot. They don’t have mats, so they make do with sandy grounds. 

And yet, at Africa’s youth championship in wrestling held in June in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, Sambou’s students won 10 medals, including six golds. 

“Despite everything, they did magnificent work,” she said. 

She has received little in return. Senegal has no pension system for retired professional athletes. Her lack of formal education complicates her career as a coach. She helps to coach the national wrestling team, both men and women, but on a voluntary basis. To get by, she works in a small shop and cleans people’s houses. 

“I gave everything to wrestling, to my country,” she said. “Now I don’t have anything. I don’t even have my own house. It hurts a bit.” 

She listed the countries she has visited, including the United States and Switzerland, while sitting outside the home she shares with relatives. Her bedroom is decorated with a picture of Virgin Mary and posters celebrating her participation in championships — the only sign of her glorious past. 

“It’s difficult to be a professional athlete. You have to leave everything behind,” she said. “And then you stop, and you come back here and you sit, without anything to do.” 

But times are changing, and so is the perception of women in Senegalese society. These days, parents seek out Sambou and ask her to coach their children, regardless of their gender, even if it’s still for free. 

Sambou’s 17-year-old niece, Mame Marie Sambou, recently won a gold medal at the youth championship in Dakar. Her dream is to become a professional wrestler and compete internationally. The big test will come in two years when Senegal hosts the Youth Olympic Games, the first Olympic event ever organized on African soil. 

“It’s my aunt who encouraged me to start wrestling,” she said. “When I started, many people were saying they have never seen a girl wrestle. But I never listened to them. I want to be like her.” 
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cairo — Fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary group rampaged through a central village, looting and burning and killing at least 85 people, including women and children, authorities and residents said Saturday, the latest atrocity in the country’s 18-month devastating conflict. 

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began attacking Galgani in the central province of Sennar late in July and last week. RSF fighters “indiscriminately opened fire on the village’s unarmed residents” after they resisted attempts to abduct and sexually assault women and girls, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. More than 150 villagers were wounded, it said. 

The RSF has been repeatedly accused of massacres, rapes and other gross violations across the country since the war started in April last year, when simmering tensions between the military and the group exploded into open fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere. 

Describing the hours-long attack, three residents said hundreds of RSF fighters stormed the village Thursday, looting and burning houses and public properties. 

The offensive came after the residents put up resistance and repelled an attack by a small group of RSF fighters, according to a health care worker at the local medical center who spoke to The Associated Press. 

The group retreated but hundreds of RSF fighters in dozens of pickup trucks with automatic rifles and heavy weapons returned, according to the worker and another resident. 

As of Friday, the medical center had received at least 80 bodies, including 24 women and minors, said the worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety. 

Mohamed Tajal-Amin, a villager, said he saw seven bodies — six men and one woman — laying in the street midday Friday. 

“The Janjaweed are in the street and people are not able to recover their dead and bury them,” he said, using the name of the Arab militias that became synonymous with genocide and war crimes in Darfur two decades ago. The RSF grew out of that group. 

RSF spokespeople didn’t return requests for comment Saturday. 

In June, the RSF assaulted Sennar’s provincial capital, Singa, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southeast of Khartoum. They looted the city’s main market and took over its main hospital, forcing thousands of people to flee. 

The latest attack came as the United States has led efforts to resume peace talks between the military and the RSF. The talks, which are boycotted by the military, began last week in Switzerland. 

Diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the African Union and the United Nations were attending the talks. The RSF sent a delegation to Geneva but didn’t take part in the meetings. 

“The RSF remains here ready for talks to start; SAF needs to decide to come,” U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello posted Friday on X, formerly Twitter, using the acronym for Sudan’s Armed Forces. 

The talks were the latest international effort to settle the devastating conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed the country to the brink of famine. Already famine was confirmed last month in a sprawling camp for displaced people in the western region of Darfur. 

The conflict has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations and international rights groups. 

Sudan’s war has also created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. Over 2 million of them have fled to neighboring countries. 
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