CAIRO (AP) — Fighting raged between Sudan’s military and a notorious paramilitary group in a city in a central province, officials said Sunday, opening another front in a 14-month war that has pushed the African country to the brink of famine.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began its offensive on Sennar province earlier this week, attacking the village of Jebal Moya before moving to the provincial capital of Singa, where fresh battles have erupted.
RSF fighters in pickup trucks mounting automatic rifles rampaged through Singa, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) southeast of the capital, Khartoum, over the weekend, according to residents and a local rights group. They looted houses, shops in a local market and took over the city’s main hospital, they said.
The group claimed in a statement Saturday it had seized the military’s main facility, the 17th Infantry Division Headquarters, in Singa. Local media also reported the RSF managed to breach the military’s defense.
However, Brig. Nabil Abdalla, a spokesperson for the Sudanese armed forces, said the military regained control of the facility, and that fighting was still underway Sunday morning. Neither claim could be independently verified.
The paramilitary group has been repeatedly accused of gross rights violations across the country since the war started in April last year, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere.
The devastating conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and wounded 33,000, according to the United Nations, but rights activists say the toll could be much higher.
The Sudan Conflict Monitor, a group of experts and rights activists, said the RSF seizure of Singa will likely have “severe humanitarian consequences" with potential future disruption of large-scale agricultural programs in the nearby provinces of Blue Nile, White Nile and Jazira, which was once Sudan's breadbasket.
According to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, at least 327 households had to flee from Jebal Moya and Singa to safer areas. “The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” it said in a statement.
Residents reported widespread looting of homes and shops in Singa by RSF fighters who seized private vehicles, mobile phones, jewelry and other valuable possessions.
“They did like what they did in (the capital) Khartoum and other cities,” said Abdel-Rahman al-Taj, a Singa resident who fled Saturday to Blue Nile province. “Many people were killed, wounded or detained.”
The Sennar Observatory for Human Rights, a local rights group, said the RSF attacked Singa Educational Hospital, detaining dozens of patients and medical staff as “human shields.” The fighters turned the hospital into a military center in a “clear violation of the international human material law.”
A physician at the hospital said RSF fighters, some in vehicles, swarmed the facility's courtyard and corridors. “The situation is extremely dangerous,” said the physician who spoke on condition of anonymity for his safety. “We are working under gunpoint.”
He added that the hospital has received dozens of wounded people over the past three days from Singa and the surrounding areas.
The RSF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fighting in Sennar comes while attention has been focused on al-Fasher, a major city in the sprawling region of Darfur that the RSF has besieged for months in an attempt to seize it from the military. Al-Fasher is the military's last stronghold in Darfur.
Sudan's conflict has created the world’s largest displacement crisis with over 11 million people forced to flee their homes. International experts warned Thursday that that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months, and that 8.5 million people are facing extreme food shortages.
The conflict has been marked by widespread reports of rampant sexual violence and other atrocities — especially in Darfur, the site of a genocide in the early 2000s. Rights groups say the atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Paramilitary forces attack a city under military control in central Sudan, opening a new front
Paramilitary forces attack a city under military control in central Sudan, opening a new front
FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council, secure the area where Dagalo attends a military-backed tribe's rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. Human rights experts working for the United Nations on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 accused Sudan’s warring parties of using starvation as a war weapon, amid mounting warnings about imminent famine in the African nation. Sudan plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the country’s military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
DALLAS (AP) — Klay Thompson is moving on from the Golden State Warriors, with the four-time league champion agreeing to join the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks and change franchises for the first time in his 13-year NBA career, two people with knowledge of the decision said Monday.
ESPN and The Athletic first reported the multiteam deal which, as currently constructed, will be executed as the sign-and-trade of a three-year, $50 million contract involving the Warriors, Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets, said the people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been announced. One of the people who spoke to the AP said final trade terms were still being worked out.
Thompson is sixth on the NBA’s all-time 3-pointers made list with 2,481, behind Reggie Miller (2,560), Damian Lillard (2,607), James Harden (2,940), Ray Allen (2,973) and Thompson’s now-former “Splash Brother” with the Warriors, Stephen Curry, and his 3,747 career makes from beyond the arc.
There were indications last season that Thompson and the Warriors might be headed toward a breakup.
Thompson came off the bench 14 times — not much in the grand scheme of things considering he played 77 games, but those were his first appearances as a reserve since his rookie season of 2011-12. He shot 38.7% from 3-point range, the second-worst of his career. He averaged 17.9 points, the third-lowest of his career. He wasn’t always in the finishing lineup and the season — and his Warriors career — ended with a 0-for-10 shooting performance against Sacramento in a play-in tournament loss.
Thompson — a five-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection who missed two entire seasons with injuries — took a long look around the court after that game, soaking in the scene just in case it would be his final time playing with the Warriors. Turns out, it was. And now he'll join a Dallas team that just went to the NBA Finals as a shooter brought in to help Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
The Hornets were planning to acquire guard Josh Green as part of the deal, giving up two second-round draft picks. The 15th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Green has spent all four of his NBA seasons with the Mavericks and averaged 8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists this past season.
The league’s moratorium on signings is lifted on Saturday.
They were all undervalued on some level when they entered the NBA. None was a lottery pick, some weren’t even first-round picks and they didn’t have the label of can’t-miss prospects.
That was then. Monday was a very different story for Tyrese Maxey, Derrick White, Isaiah Hartenstein, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins — who are about to sign deals worth a combined $565 million.
All were confirmed to the AP by people with knowledge of the negotiations for the players involved.
Maxey, an All-Star this past season, agreed in principle to a five-year, $204 million extension that keeps him with the Philadelphia 76ers and set to play alongside Joel Embiid and soon-to-be-signed Paul George.
The 76ers, like the rest of the league, are chasing the Boston Celtics, who made a big move by agreeing with guard Derrick White on a four-year extension worth around $125 million. White averaged 15.2 points and 5.2 assists for the NBA champions this past season.
Hartenstein, a center coming off a breakout year, is leaving New York for Oklahoma City on an $87 million, three-year deal that includes an option. The Thunder — the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference this past season — also finalized extensions with Joe ($48 million) and Wiggins ($47 million).
And Harris is going to Detroit on a two-year deal worth $52 million, a move first reported by ESPN and one that will give the young Pistons an experienced veteran in the room as they continue their rebuild under newly hired coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
Reynolds reported from Miami. AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
FILE - Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, left, tries to hang onto the ball against Los Angeles Clippers' Paul George during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Philadelphia. Paul George is going back to the Eastern Conference, and surely has made Joel Embiid very happy in the process. George will sign a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press early Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey (0) looks to pass during the first half of Game 5 in an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in New York. Paul George and the Philadelphia 76ers have agreed to a four-year, $212 million free-agent deal, a person with knowledge of the deal said Monday, July 1, 2024. Maxey is sticking around for the long haul, too — agreeing in principle to a five-year, $204 million extension with the Sixers on Monday, July 1, 2024, a person with knowledge of the deal told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal was not yet finalized. .(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, Filee)
FILE - Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) scores past San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Monday, March 11, 2024. Klay Thompson is moving on from the Golden State Warriors, with the four-time league champion agreeing to join the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks and change franchises for the first time in his 13-year NBA career, two people with knowledge of the decision said Monday, July 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson gestures after making a 3-point basket against the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Los Angeles. Klay Thompson is moving on from the Golden State Warriors, with the four-time league champion agreeing to join the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks and change franchises for the first time in his 13-year NBA career, two people with knowledge of the decision said Monday, July 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
