Battles persist in Sudan capital, governor calls for support for people in Khartoum Bahri
Soup kitchens, in Arabic known as takaya, are one of the social solidarity systems in Sudan (File photo: RD)
Heavy battles between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) yesterday continued in Khartoum for the fifth day. The RSF accused the Baraa Bin Malik brigade of liquidating civilians in Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri). The acting governor of Khartoum called for urgent support for the people in Bahri.
The Sudanese Air Force launched several air strikes on central Khartoum and El Medina El Riyadiya (Sports City) in southern Khartoum on Monday morning.
Speaking to Radio Dabanga, residents of Khartoum reported the rise of heavy smoke above southern Khartoum following clashes between soldiers of the Armoured Corps in southwestern part of the city and an RSF unit.
Military sources affiliated with the army say that the Armoured Corps forces advanced toward the south.
On the early morning of Thursday, the army launched a major ground offensive from Omdurman on key areas in Khartoum state, occupied by the RSF since the start of the war in mid-April last year.
The areas of El Mogran in northwest Khartoum (where the two Niles meet), and El Halfaya and El Kadaro in Khartoum North witnessed mutual artillery shelling on Friday. The fighting continued over the weekend.
Army units yesterday continued to enter El Mogran from old Omdurman via the so-called Iron Bridge. The exchange of artillery fire between the SAF and the RSF in the area continued, amid attempts by the army to reach the SAF General Command in northeastern Khartoum.
On Tuti Island, which lies between the three cities of Khartoum state, and is controlled by the RSF, a person was killed, and others were injured yesterday morning in a drone strike.
The Khartoum Southern Belt* Emergency Room reported on its Facebook page on Sunday that six members of one family were killed and four others were injured in an air raid that day.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Affairs Ministry on Sunday accused the Sudanese Air Force of bombing the residence of the UAE ambassador in southern Khartoum. The SAF and the Sudanese FA Ministry denied the attack took place.
Khartoum North
This weekend SAF soldiers from Karari, Omdurman, broke through RSF lines in El Halfaya in the west of Khartoum North and reached the El Kadaro military base. On Sunday, SAF Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yasir El Atta arrived at the El Kadaro base to laud the army troops that managed to reopen the lines between the Karari military compound and the El Kadaro base. The army commander told his forces that the army had recently obtained new heavy weapons and will continue “to liberate Khartoum” from the “treacherous janjaweed”.
Yesterday, the SAF on its Facebook page published videos of the evacuation of people trapped in their homes in El Doroshab. Army officers also posted footage of forces arriving at areas in El Samarab that were controlled by the RSF. There were no reports of army soldiers continuing to advance further south from Halfaya.
The Sudan Special Task Forces posted video clips on X, claiming that its fighters reached the northern gate of the El Jeili Oil Refiney, 70 kilometres north of the capital, but military sources affiliated with the army denied the news.
The RSF, in control of the refinery, repelled an attack two days ago and managed to inflict casualties and equipment losses on the army and allied forces.
Islamist brigade
The RSF yesterday accused the El Baraa bin Malik brigade, affiliated with the Islamic Movement and fighting alongside the army, of liquidating more than 70 young people volunteering in takaya (soup kitchens) in the Halfaya neighbourhood in Khartoum Bahri, on charges of cooperating with the RSF.
A video clip posted on X showed a group alleged members of the brigade in a house with several bodies of people in civilian clothes, who they claim to have killed. Radio Dabanga was unable to verify the location and time of the clip.
‘Urgent measures’
Acting Khartoum state Governor Ahmed Hamza yesterday in a press statement directed “all local agencies in Khartoum Bahri to work as a crisis cell to address the state of emergency, and to put in place urgent measures for the inhabitants of the areas retaken from the RSF in the city”.
The situation of the people who were living for months under RSF siege “requires urgent action to provide health and food aid, and to restore water and electricity services,” he stated.
He further announced “ongoing arrangements with the military operations command to secure the people in Bahri and the combing of all areas controlled by the SAF to prevent dangers related to shell remnants and unburied corpses.”
The Sudan Media Forum reported two weeks ago that more than 10 people in Khartoum North were dying daily from hunger and shelling.
* Khartoum’s Southern Belt is part of the periphery of the capital inhabited by people earlier displaced by wars in Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile region and South Sudanese refugees, and by impoverished farmers from various parts of the country who lost their lands to banks.
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