♦ Sudan: This week’s news in brief ♦

A compact digest of the past week’s most-read highlights, from the heart of Sudan. Subscribe to receive this digest weekly in your inbox.

Sudan war: RSF enters White Nile state and Sennar

22/12/2023 – EL KAMLIN / EL GEDAREF / SENNAR / PORT SUDAN. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who took control of El Gezira earlier, entered El Giteina town in neighbouring White Nile state. Other paramilitary units are advancing to Sennar, south of El Gezira. Residents of neighbouring El Gedaref in eastern Sudan are panicking. International aid organisations call on the warring parties ‘to ensure protection of all civilians’ and warn of a hunger crisis now El Gezira, ‘Sudan’s breadbasket’, has become a battleground.

RSF troops entered El Giteina and filmed themselves at a captured base of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the town. Radio Dabanga has been unable to reach residents in El Giteina and neighbouring areas for comment because of the weak communication network. The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) in El Hasaheisa locality, which has fallen into the hands of the RSF, reported widespread plundering of buildings and robberies of people at gunpoint.

‘The outbreak of war in the Sudan is a tragic manifestation of sabotage and a hijacking of the hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people’

William Ruto

Kenya’s President Ruto pledges to ‘stand with the Sudanese people for democracy’

24/12/2023 – NAIROBI. Kenyan President William Ruto has promised that the Kenyan government will provide continuous support to Sudan’s Democratic Civil Forces coalition in efforts to restore peace and stability in Sudan. Ruto pledged to “stand with the Sudanese people for democracy” and emphasised the Sudanese people’s “right to choose the nature of their government”.

The address, delivered on his behalf by security advisor Monica Juma, stated: “The outbreak of war in the Sudan is a tragic manifestation of sabotage and a hijacking of the hopes and aspirations of the Sudanese people. It is in this spirit that President William Ruto invites and facilitates civilian political actors to engage as early as they want to try to stop the war and determine the future of Sudan”.

Conditions deteriorate for Sudanese refugees in Chad
29/12/2023 – ADRÉ. Darfuri refugees, who have sought shelter in eastern Chad due to the ongoing war, are grappling with food shortages, inadequate housing, and a scarcity of health facilities. The influx of people escaping from Darfur has overwhelmed the Adré reception centre.
 
Renewed fears of RSF offensive in West Kordofan
28/12/2023 – BABANOUSA. Babanousa, West Kordofan, is experiencing a cautious calm despite renewed fears and rumours of a possible RSF attack, a resident told Radio Dabanga. “People are tired of wars that leave us in constant fear.”
 
Sudan RSF advisor: ‘We’ll hand over areas under our control to the people, not the army’
27/12/2023 – DABANGA SUDAN. According to Yousef Ezzat, political advisor to the RSF command, the paramilitaries will not leave the areas under their control before starting negotiations with the Sudanese army about a ceasefire. “This also raises the question about who will take over the conquered states after we would have withdrawn,” he told Radio Dabanga in an interview.
 
Sudan conflict: RSF clash with SLM-AW faction in western Jebel Marra
26/12/2023 – JEBEL MARRA / ZALINGEI. Dozens of people were killed and wounded around Nierteti in the western part of Jebel Marra, Central Darfur, after violent clashes erupted between the RSF and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdelwahid El Nur. 
 
SAF intelligence detains volunteers feeding Sennar displaced
25/12/2023 – SINGA. A number of emergency room volunteers were allegedly detained by military intelligence agents in Singa in Sennar while they were providing meals to displaced people. The detentions led to the suspension of assistance to the displaced, the emergency room reported.
 
‘Mass exodus’ as RSF menace Sudan’s White Nile state
24/12/2023 12:05 RABAK. White Nile state south of El Gezira, which fell to the RSF last week, is witnessing a mass exodus of its residents after rumours regarding RSF plans to invade the state.
 
US Congress calls on Emirates to ‘stop interfering in Sudan’
22/12/2023 – WASHINGTON. Members of the US Congress sent a letter to the foreign affairs minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), urging him to end his country’s support to the RSF.
 
Breaking: Sudan’s El Burhan agrees to meet with ‘Hemedti’
22/12/2023 – PORT SUDAN. Diplomatic sources say that Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan, the commander-in-chief of the SAF, has agreed to a meeting with Lt Gen Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, commander of the RSF. This comes a week after the Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry denied that El Burhan would approve such an agreement, but only days after the RSF took control of El Gezira.
 
UNICEF Sudan: ‘El Gezira violence endangers 3 million children’
21/12/2023 – NEW YORK / PORT SUDAN / WAD MADANI. Concern for the humanitarian situation in El Gezira is growing after the RSF takeover earlier this week. UNICEF warns that over three million children in El Gezira, many already displaced by earlier violence, require urgent aid.
 
Sudan RSF ‘in full control’ of El Gezira, appoints former army officer as commander
20/12/2023 14:00 WAD MADANI / PORT SUDAN. The RSF announced their full control of El Gezira state. The day before, the SAF announced the withdrawal of the 1st Infantry Division from the capital Wad Madani. Numerous posts by Sudanese on social media strongly criticise the army.