War in Sudan: More than 100 settlements set on fire with over quarter targeted more than once
New analysis, shared exclusively with Sky News, reveals 180 separate incidents of settlements in Sudan being set on fire, with 108 villages, towns and cities affected since the start of the war.
More than a quarter (27%) of the 108 settlements where burnings have been verified by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) have been targeted more than once since April 2023.
On 15 April, 2023, violent clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Many of these fires have been attributed to the RSF and local level disputes.
The fires are another element of a war that has resulted in the forced displacement of millions of people and human rights abuses including more than 100 incidents of sexual violence observed by the UN.
Sir Nicholas Kay, a former British ambassador to Sudan, told Sky News the repeated fires may be a “deliberate attempt to… instil a great level of fear and extreme violence to subdue and remove the population”, and “a determined consistent effort to ensure people leave and don’t come back ever”.
US-Africa policy expert Cameron Hudson said the current RSF activity in Darfur is “ethnic cleansing”, including war crimes “that some people will call genocide” – reminiscent of the atrocities of 2003-05.
One Sudanese human rights worker who spoke anonymously to Sky News said he had been specifically targeted in an assassination attempt for his work doing things like providing water to people whose water sources had been burned and destroyed.
The Darfur region has experienced the most significant impact from the fires, with the majority of incidents taking place in the West Darfur state.
The highest number of fires took place in in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, along with the village of Misterei.
In one instance between 29 May and 2 June 2023, multiple fires were detected in Misterei, mainly inhabited by ethnic Masalit people, who have faced extensive violence from the RSF and allied Arab militias throughout the war.
Humans Rights Watch reported that the town came under attack on the morning of 28 May, when RSF and Arab militias allegedly launched an assault on the town.
Many were also injured with gunshot wounds and fled to Chad.
Satellite imagery of the town from 2 June shows both burn marks and active fires.
Pic: Planet Labs PBC and Centre for Information Resilience
In the middle of the attack on Misterei, a video was recorded in the centre of town, in which burning and burned down houses are shown. The person filming accuses the Nuba people of killing and slaughtering and goes on to say “as you condemn, you will be condemned”, which roughly translates as “what goes around comes around”.
The video was shared in a RSF WhatsApp group and was located to the period between 30 May and 1 June 2023.
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Violence takes place in Misterei, Sudan
There was further fire damage in Misterei following a pattern of what appears to be strategic burnings of residential areas, where the town was burned in intervals of multiple days, between 6 October 2023 and 1 March 2024.
Between 11 and 31 October 2023, roughly 3,750 square metres (more than 60% of the town) was burnt in this manner.
“What the RSF is doing has felt very similar to what they did in a previous generation as the Janjaweed [a Sudanese Arab militia group that the RSF grew out of], in terms of who they’re targeting and how they are targeting them, ” explained Cameron Hudson, Senior Associate for the Africa Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
“One of the things we assessed at the time was that they were doing things like burning villages, poisoning water sources or destroying livestock to prevent people from ever returning.
“So, if they are doing that again, which is what this sounds like, then that is a very similar tactic to what we have seen before.
“There’s a profit motive here because there they are looting, they are taking valuables,” added Mr Hudson, who also served as the chief of staff to successive U.S. presidential special envoys for Sudan during the period of South Sudan’s separation from Sudan (2011) and the Darfur genocide (2003-2005).
As in Misterei, many of the burnings disproportionately affect the Masalit and other minority communities.
On 9 June 2023, a video was shared on X showing an RSF soldier outside the residence of the Sultan of the Masalit in El Geneina, making statements targeting the Masalit.
He says, “Dar [the house of] Masalit, only Arab. “Allah Akbar [x4].. Sultan Dar Masalit? .. There’s no more Dar Masalit, Dar Arab only.”
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Fighter speaks against the Masalit
CIR geolocated the footage to the same day as potential related footage showing burning property and dead bodies in the streets only one block away from the Sultan’s residence.
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Violence in Sudan
Mr Hudson said: “Obviously, there has been ethnic cleansing by the RSF in Darfur going on recently, going on presently. There have been obviously war crimes committed and some people will call that genocide because it is targeting African tribal minorities in Darfur, so that is all reminiscent of an earlier period.”
Tribal conflicts
While the cases of El Geneina and Misterei show some of the violence and hatred incited by the RSF and its supporters, village fires have also been attributed to alleged local-level and inter-communal conflict.
“As we saw in the violence 20 years ago, there is a lot of very local level score settling and fighting going on between nomads and pastoralists between communities that have been in tension for a very long time and so within the context of this larger conflict, there is also a very local level conflict going on.
“I think the violence in Darfur is much more about local level, political, tribal and economic dynamics,” said Mr Hudson.
CIR also collected and verified multiple videos related to alleged clashes between Bani Halba and Al Salamat tribes in August and September 2023 in the Kubum and Mukjar localities, near the border of South and Central Darfur.
Various fighters on both sides appear in RSF uniforms.
Markundi, a town about 20 kilometres south from Kubum and inhabited largely by the Bani Halba, was attacked by what appears to be Al Salamat fighters on 7 September or 8 September.
Footage recorded by the Al Salamat people shows men in RSF uniforms surrounded by burning dwellings in an area nearby the Markundi market.
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A video shows the aftermath of tribal violence in Kubum
Continuing violence and displacement in Sudan
The findings add to atrocities already observed by the UN, including more than 100 incidents of sexual violence.
“It’s a messy war because there are many, many different factors. I heard so many Sudanese complaining and lamenting the fact that mercenaries from across the Sahel were fighting on the side of the RSF and were there essentially just to loot and unfortunately rape, in Khartoum in particular but in other parts of Sudan as well,” said Sir Nicholas Kay, former UK ambassador to Sudan, now Senior Advisor at Crisis Management Initiative.
More than 8.4 million people have been forcibly displaced since the start of the conflict in April 2023, equivalent to one in six people in Sudan.
“What we’ve also seen is that it’s not just settlements being targeted, but there is also frequent fires as at IDP camps, which would result in double displacement and people having to leave again because the areas that they’ve finally found refuge also turn out to be unsafe or are left unliveable,” said Anouk Theunissen, team leader for the Sudan Witness project at CIR.
More than 6.5 million are displaced within the country, with others fleeing to neighbours like Chad, South Sudan and Egypt.
This includes one human rights worker, Ibrahim (not his real name), who spoke with Sky News but requested to remain anonymous. He fled to Chad in June 2023 but witnessed burnings before he left.
“I was monitoring all kinds of violations committed by all parties of the conflict. I also provided potable water to citizens after the destruction and burning most of the water sources. These things made part of the conflict group target me. I survived an assassination attempt and the office was looted and burned.
“Secondly, because of my colour or race, the El Geneina War took on an ethnic manner, as people were killed on the basis of race or colour, especially after the killing of Wali Khamis and the defeat of the Masalit groups, where the Janjaweed took over the entire city and practiced the worst types of killing and looting.
“Because of all of that, I fled to Chad with great difficulty. I lost my homeland and my home, as it was completely looted and burned. I lost my job. I lost a number of my family members who have been killed, and I lost all that I have, money, documents, and other things.”
Despite the great scale of damage and humanitarian catastrophe, Sir Nicolas holds hope that people like Ibrahim may be able to return one day.
“I believe that those communities [targeted in the Darfur Genocide] proved to be resilient and as the conflict was ending and some people were being held to account for further violence and with the presence of the UN and African Union peacekeeping mission on the ground, communities did return, re-establish and consolidate themselves.
“So it’s happened before and again, it may happen after this round of violence and bloodletting. It would require, clearly, a determination by the international community and institutions to hold people to account but it would also require a future government of Sudan to also take seriously its responsibility to protect civilians and provide an environment in which all communities can live together.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has compared the region to a “slaughterhouse” because of the daily bombardment from Israeli forces.
Dr Tom Potokar, who is based at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, offered his assessment of Israel’s military offensive after Palestinian health officials reported at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed their troops have begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.
In a video, Dr Potokar said it was “another day of devastation here in Gaza”, adding: “The stories coming from the north… absolutely horrific… particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”
“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here… [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.
“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse.”
Mourners at a funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
His reference to Cambodia’s killing fields refers to when more than a million people were murdered in mass executions and buried by the extreme communist guerrilla group, the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.
In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.
A family in grief at a funeral on Sunday in Deir al Balah, central Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Dr Potokar described the impact on those on the ground, saying: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries… [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”
Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
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Israel ramps up bombing in Gaza
On Sunday, it announced and launched “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza.
It came after airstrikes killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said, and forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close.
A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.
The ministry also said the bombardment had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.
Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area which includes tents sheltering displaced people.
In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in several strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
Read more from Sky News:
How Israel has escalated Gaza bombing campaign
Ceasefire talks are taking place in Qatar this weekend – with Israel saying they involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.
A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.
But a senior Israeli official added there had been little progress so far during talks in Qatar’s capital Doha.
Sky News Arabia reported Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
Russia has launched its heaviest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022, the Ukrainian military has said.
A total of 273 exploding drones were reportedly fired across the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Some 88 were intercepted and 128 “lost”, having been electronically jammed, Ukraine’s air force said.
It passes the previous record of 267 drones on the eve of the war’s third anniversary earlier this year.
Firefighters at the site of a business premises struck by a drone outside Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Burnt out cars and buildings in the Kyiv region on Sunday. Pic: AP
In Kyiv, a 28-year-old woman was killed, and three people, including a four-year-old child were injured, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
Just outside the city, firefighters fought to control flames at business premises destroyed by drone attacks. Russia has not commented.
Resident Vadym Tysbenko, 22, outside his drone-struck house near Kyiv. Pic: Reuters
Emergency workers put out flames after drone strikes in Kyiv. Pic: AP
Firefighters at work in the Kyiv region on Sunday. Pic: AP
It comes ahead of a planned phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Mr Trump has promised to speak to Mr Putin and then President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday about “ending the war” after the first direct talks between their two countries failed to yield a ceasefire this week.
Mr Putin snubbed Mr Zelenskyy’s offer of face-to-face talks in Turkey.
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What happened at Russia-Ukraine peace talks?
A source from the Ukrainian negotiation team told Sky News that Russia threatened “eternal war” during talks between officials.
Kremlin representatives are also reported to have threatened that Ukraine may lose “more than just loved ones” while at the negotiating table.
Talks did bring promise of the largest ever prisoner swap between the two nations – involving 1,000 prisoners of war on each side.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said he hoped it would take place over the next week.
Read more from Sky News:
Chilling moment in Ukraine-Russia talks
Meet the pro-Trumper that could be Romania’s president
Everything you need to know about Poland’s elections
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Nine killed in Sumy bus strike
Elsewhere in Sumy, northeastern Ukraine, on Saturday, nine people were killed and seven injured after a bus evacuating civilians was hit by a Russian drone in the town of Bilopillia, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Sunday, Mr Zelenskyy was in Vatican City attending the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City. Pic: Reuters
He was pictured shaking hands with US Vice President JD Vance after their tense clash at the White House earlier this year.
At least 103 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight and into Sunday, according to hospitals and medics.
Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
Meanwhile, Israel says talks with Hamas taking place in Qatar this weekend involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.
Addressing the strikes overnight, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.
The ministry also said airstrikes had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.
Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area, including tents sheltering displaced people.
Smoking debris after an airstrike at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Sunday. Pic: Reuters
Saleh Zenati carries the body of his nephew killed in Khan Younis on Sunday. Pic: AP
In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda hospital.
Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in multiple strikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the latest strikes.
Peace talks include ending war in Gaza
It comes as peace talks between Israel and Hamas continue in Qatar this weekend, including discussions about ending the war.
A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Sunday that any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.
But a senior Israeli official added that the talks in the capital, Doha, had made little progress so far.
Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”
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On Saturday, Israel ramped up attacks on Gaza
Four journalists killed in Israeli airstrikes
Details have emerged on Sunday about the deaths of four Palestinian journalists in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes.
Abdel Rahman al Abadleh was missing for two days before his body was found in the town of al Qarara in southern Gaza.
Three other journalists were also killed following strikes on Saturday. Aziz al Hajjar, his wife and children, died in the Bir al Naaja neighbourhood of northern Gaza.
Ahmed al Zenati, his wife Noor al Madhoun and their children Mohammad and Khaled, were killed in Khan Younis.
Meanwhile, in Deir al Balah, central Gaza, Nour Qandil, her husband Khaled Abu Seif, and their young daughter were also killed.
![Sourced via Rosabel Crean from SN For Desk:
[LEFT] Journalist Abdel Rahman Al-Abadleh had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the town of Al-Qarara, southern Gaza. He had been missing for two days, and only this morning his fate was confirmed
[RIGHT] Journalist Aziz Al-Hajjar, his wife, and their children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Bir Al-Naaja neighbourhood in northern Gaza](https://e3.365dm.com/25/05/768x432/skynews-abdel-rahman-al-abadleh_6920075.png?20250518095346)
Abdel Rahman al Abadleh (L) and Aziz al Hajjar (R) are among four journalists killed in Gaza. Pic: Family handouts
![Sourced via Rosabel Crean from SN For Desk:
[LEFT] Journalist Ahmed Al-Zenati, his wife Noor Al-Madhoun and their children Mohammad and Khaled were tragically slaughtered last night in an Israeli airstrike that hit their displacement tent in Khan Younis
(RIGHT) Journalist Nour Qandil, her husband Khaled Abu Seif, and their young daughter were all killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, according to local sources](https://e3.365dm.com/25/05/768x432/skynews-ahmed-al-zenati-noor-al-madhoun_6920074.png?20250518095156)
Journalists Ahmed al Zenati (L) and Nour Qandil (R) also died in airstrikes. Pic: Family handouts
Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March. It is attempting to pressurise Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the whole of Gaza and controlling aid.
‘Systematic campaign targeting hospitals’
Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.
“After putting the European Gaza Hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it added.
Israel has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians and accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.
This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.
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Mass protests on Saturday mark 77 years since the Nakba
Houthis launch missile towards Israel
Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen towards Israel.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles.
The Houthis have fired at Israel because of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.
The war in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
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