ISTANBUL

More than 150 young men and children were kidnapped by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in South Kordofan state, a Sudanese medical group said Tuesday.

The Sudan Doctors Network said in a statement that RSF militants and allied forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)’s al-Hilou faction attacked the Al-Zallataya mine in Al-Abbasiya, northeast of South Kordofan, “in the first blatant violation of a unilateral humanitarian truce” declared by the rebel group.

RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said on Monday that his forces and allied groups have agreed to an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that includes a halt to all hostile actions for three months.

“More than 150 young men and underage children were forcibly abducted for the purpose of recruitment, in a direct assault on civilians that amounts to war crimes and grave violations of international humanitarian law,” the medical group said.

It noted that another forced recruitment operation had been launched by the RSF in the same town, amid looting of the town and its marketplace.

The group held the SPLM and the RSF fully responsible for the abduction and called on the international community and relevant regional bodies to immediately intervene to end the RSF violations in the region.

Since April 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others.