KHARTOUM, Sudan/ISTANBUL

Sudanese Information Minister Khalid Al-Ayesir said Friday that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed Taj Al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman, the director of the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) office in the city of El-Fasher, and detained several media workers, transferring them to Nyala city in South Darfur, western Sudan.

In a statement, Al-Ayesir said SUNA Director Suleiman was assassinated by the rebel militia inside his home in the Al-Daraja neighborhood of El-Fasher city, along with his brother.

He noted that Suleiman “remained steadfast in the values and principles of his profession under the most difficult circumstances, up until the moment of his death, after he went missing following the entry of the rebel militia into the city.”

He expressed hope for the “release of the detained and missing colleagues who were taken by the militia to its detention centers in Nyala,” without specifying their number.

The minister appealed to “international organizations concerned with the protection of journalists to assume their responsibilities in following up on this case, protecting media workers, and ensuring their safety.”

As of 1320GMT, the RSF had not issued a statement on the matter.

Last month, the RSF seized El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and was accused of committing massacres against civilians by local and international rights groups.

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.