♦ 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.

Tagadom: ‘Sudan army and RSF to return to negotiation table without conditions’
 
10/05/2024 – ADDIS ABABA. The official founding conference of the Civil Democratic Forces alliance (Tagadom), twice postponed, is now scheduled to take place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on May 26, spokesperson Bakri El Jak told Radio Dabanga. He also elaborated on negotiations in the Saudi city of Jeddah that may have started already in “some way or another”.
 
Asked about statements claiming that negotiations between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its paramilitary counterpart, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), would resume in the Saudi city of Jeddah in the first week of May, El Jak replied: “I cannot deny or confirm that […], but what I do know is that communication continues with the two parties and that both have announced their willingness to return to the negotiating platform without conditions.

‘The particular context in which the widespread killings took place also raises the possibility that the RSF and their allies have the intent to destroy in whole or in part the Massalit in at least West Darfur, which would indicate that genocide has been and/or is being committed there’

HRW

HRW: RSF methodical destruction in West Darfur ‘amounts to genocide’
 
09/05/2024 – NAIROBI. Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report providing new evidence of atrocities committed by the RSF in West Darfur. The 218-page report states that the paramilitary RSF and allied militias deliberately targeted non-Arab Masalit people in El Geneina, the state capital, last year.
 
“Committing serious violations against [the Masalit] with the apparent objective of at least having them permanently leave the region constitutes ethnic cleansing. The particular context in which the widespread killings took place also raises the possibility that the RSF and their allies have the intent to destroy in whole or in part the Massalit in at least West Darfur, which would indicate that genocide has been and/or is being committed there.”

Renewed battles in El Fasher: SAF and allies clash with RSF
16/05/2024 – EL FASHER. North Darfur’s capital of El Fasher witnessed a brief lull in ground battles and artillery exchanges, only to be followed by renewed airstrikes on the outskirts of the city in the evening. This marks the second consecutive day of aerial bombardment in the region.
 
Fresh round of US sanctions targets two Sudanese RSF commanders
16/05/2024 – WASHINGTON D.C. The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on two RSF commanders, Ali Yagoub Jibril and Osman Mohamed Hamid, due to their leading roles in RSF attacks on North Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.
 
US Ambassador: ‘Darfur is on the precipice of a large-scale massacre’
15/05/2024 – NEW YORK / EL FASHER. US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has warned that “a large-scale massacre” is imminent in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. “There will be direct and immediate consequences for those responsible,” she wrote.
 
London youth protest ‘media neglect’ of Sudan conflict
15/05/2024 – LONDON. The youth group London for Sudan organised a march, in the British capital on Saturday, to protest the lack of media attention on the ongoing war in Sudan. Participants voiced concerns that British media are neglecting the conflict and its impact.
 
Six children die from malnutrition in South Darfur camp
13/05/2024 – KASS / NIERTETI / ADRÉ. Aid workers confirmed the deaths of six children, including a newborn baby, due to malnutrition. An additional 97 cases of severe malnutrition were recorded across displacement camps in Kass, South Darfur, last week.
 
Historic Khartoum palace set ablaze by Sudan army airstrike
13/05/2024 – KHARTOUM / EL OBEID / WAD MADANI / EL FASHER. The old Republican Palace in Khartoum was hit by a SAF airstrike, setting parts of it ablaze. An attack by the RSF on a market in North Kordofan left 15 people dead. Two children were killed when an SAF strike near the Babiker Nahar Pediatric Hospital in El Fasher caused the roof of the intensive care unit to collapse.
 
Unlawful detentions and extrajudicial killings of activists continue in war-torn Sudan
12/05/2024 – AMSTERDAM. A new wave of unjustified detentions of unarmed Sudanese who are not a party to the more than 11-month-old armed conflict is taking place these days. Obituaries posted on social media and statements condemning the torturing and killing of Sudanese activists and volunteers by elements of the RSF and the SAF Military Intelligence, increased last week.
 
Sudanese Pound continues its rapid decline, banks expected to collapse
10/05/2024 – AMSTERDAM. The Sudanese Pound continues its accelerated decline against foreign currencies. Economists expect the imminent collapse of about 25 banks in the country.
 
Both Sudan army and RSF claim control of Mount Kordofan
09/05/2024 – EL OBEID. Both the SAF and the RSF announced control of the Mount Kordofan area near the capital of North Kordofan, after violent battles. The SAF reportedly attacked RSF sites in the area to secure a better field position ahead of the battle for El Fasher, capital of North Darfur.
 
Child killed in North Kordofan as bombing continues
07/05/2024 – UM RAWABA / EL RAHAD / EL OBEID / BABANOUSA. Military aircraft bombed targets in Um Rawaba and El Rahad in the southern part of North Kordofan. In El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, a child died and two others were injured due to an explosion.