Airstrikes in Sudan capital, forced evacuations continue

The Sudanese air force continued to bombard multiple areas of Khartoum state on Monday. Residents of Abrof neighbourhood in Omdurman were forcibly evacuated by the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The house of a Rizeigat community leader in Omdurman was raided, inciting allegations of tribally motivated targeting.

Witnesses reported ongoing aerial and artillery bombardments in various parts of Khartoum state on Monday. Warplanes targeted in particular the Sharg El Nil (East Nile) district in Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri) and El Riyadh neighbourhood in Khartoum.

Inhabitants of the northern part of Omdurman told Radio Dabanga they heard heavy artillery shooting in Karari and shelling from the Wadi Sedna army base.

Reports also indicated fierce fighting on the Wad Madani road in south-east Khartoum, as well as in the El Ma’amoura and Arkaweet neighbourhoods in the vicinity on Sunday evening.

Forced evacuation

The resistance committee of Abrof in central Omdurman reported that residents from the neighbourhood were forcibly evacuated on Monday evening. “This directive came jointly from the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF, who declared the area an operation area”, the committee said in a statement on Monday.  

People in Abrof and neighbouring areas in central Omdurman, not far from the national Radio and TV corporation, have been living tragic conditions for days. “The area has just become an open battlefront between the army and the RSF”, according to the statement.

The committee called on people in the neighbourhood of Abrof to support the evacuees.

‘Tribally motivated’

Omda Edam Abubakr, a Rizeigat native administration leader, reported that military intelligence forces stormed his house in El Sawra 21 in Omdurman, which is under the control of the army, early on Sunday morning.

In a statement on Monday, he said that the force, led by a military intelligence colonel, raided his home, insulted his children and other relatives, smashed property, and seized his vehicle “without any justification”.

The attackers may have been seeking the Omda personally, as the force commander allegedly asked Abubakr’s son about his whereabouts right before the raid.

The Darfur Bar Association (DBA) condemned the attack on the house of Abubakr and the “degrading treatment of his relatives,” in a statement on Monday.

The DBA considers the attack “tribally motivated”, because “they selectively target people” belonging to Rizeigat and Misseriya tribes and other tribes of Darfur and Kordofan, from which many young men are fighting for the RSF.

“These practices will lead to deepening societal hatred between the peoples of Sudan and will lead to never-ending civil wars,” the Darfur lawyers warned.

Battles

In Nyala, capital of South Darfur, clashes took place between the army and the RSF on Monday afternoon, amid unconfirmed reports of multiple deaths and injuries.

On Monday, commercial banks in the North Kordofan capital El Obeid stopped providing service for security reasons, after they had re-opened their doors on Sunday.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that “an RSF force riding three vehicles and motorcycles entered the city on Sunday and was confronted by the army, after which the banks closed again on Monday”.