Sudan residents bury dozens of decomposed bodies months after fighting began

Residents of a Sudan town have buried dozens of decomposed bodies months after fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began, according to local media reports.

A member of a local initiative to bury corpses in the Tawila area, Mohamed Ismail, told news site Darfur24 that they buried 42 bodies, including six civilians and 36 soldiers, after their corpses had been lying in the open since clashes which took place in the area in late May. 

Last month, reports emerged that thousands of unidentified corpses were decomposing in morgues in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The morgues were unable to operate due to continued fighting and a lack of safe passage for workers.

Separately, at least 15 civilians were killed in renewed clashes between the army and the RSF in Nyala city of the South Darfur state.

"Clashes and shelling exchanged by the army and the RSF have continued in Nyala, South Darfur on Sunday morning for the third day in a row, with the death toll reaching more than 15 civilians and dozens injured,"  the Amsterdam-based Radio Dabanga news site reported.

It said artillery rounds fired by the two sides had hit residential houses in the city, with a doctor saying they treated at least 30 injured.

UAE denies arming Sudanese factions

Meanwhile, the UAE rejected reports that it had supplied Sudanese factions with weapons, according to a statement by a foreign ministry unit on Sunday.

The statement said the claims were made by a "media entity", which it did not name and reaffirmed the UAE’s declared neutrality in the Sudanese conflict.

"The UAE has not supplied any of the warring sides in Sudan with weapons since the fighting broke out in April 2023," the statement said, according to official news agency WAM.

The statement added that Abu Dhabi was working to end the conflict, adding that it was committed to alleviating the suffering of the people of Sudan by supplying medical aid and food.

On Friday, a report by the Wall Street Journal said the UAE had sent arms to the RSF concealed in aid shipments.

It was the latest in a series of such reports to have emerged since the fighting erupted in April, after the RSF rejected plans to integrate it into the army.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and nearly four million displaced since then, according to the UN.