About 260 civilians have been killed in conflict between the Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia organisation, as attacks on civilians and government institutions escalated in the North African country, Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan in Nigeria, Ahmed Omer Jaboul has said.

The envoy also called on the Nigerian Government and ECOWAS to intervene in de-escalating the crisis.

The war which started in April 2023 following a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the army’s former paramilitary allies, (RSF) escalated on October 20 after the RSF area’s key commander was reported to have defected to government forces.

It began when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position ahead of an internationally backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict.

The army and the RSF had previously shared power after staging a coup in 2021, two years after veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising.

Since then, about 11 million are internally displaced and 3.1 million have fled to neighbouring countries, and the numbers continue to increase.

Briefing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Jaboul described the Sudanese Army led by General Abdel Fattah as the authentic and legitimate government in Sudan, noting that there has been misleading information on the genesis of the crisis.

Jaboul alleged that the RSF has mobilised more than 100,000 mercenaries from different African countries to fight the government, using heavy weapons against unarmed civilians.

“After 18 months of the crisis, the situation is still very terrible. Massacre has been done by the militia in the last two weeks. More than 260 civilians have been killed for nothing.”