‘Mass exodus’ as RSF menace Sudan’s White Nile state

White Nile state, neighbouring El Gezira that fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Monday, is witnessing a mass exodus of its residents after of rumours regarding plans by the RSF to invade the state.

Warplanes flying over the White Nile state, south of El Gezira, generated panic amongst residents, who began to flee toward the south. They are currently moving towards the outskirts of the southern border with South Sudan.

Earlier this week, security authorities in White Nile state launched large-scale detention campaigns for hundreds of people on ethnic grounds, which provoked widespread anger.

In Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, security forces last week detained dozens of young men on ethnic basis among the residents and displaced in the city following instructions by the governor of El Gezira, who ordered “the detention of all members of the fifth column cooperating with the RSF militiamen, and which consists of displaced originally from Darfur and Kordofan, who entered El Gezira recently, members of the forces of the Freedom and Change Declaration, and of the resistance committees”.

Displaced

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, about 300,000 people fled El Gezira during the RSF offensive on the state, which ended with its control of the state capital Wad Madani on Tuesday.

According to the Displacement Tracking Matrix Flash Alert of the International Organization for Migration, many people, among them many displaced from Khartoum, fled Wad Madani on foot due to the lack of transportation means. They fled to El Gedaref in the east, and to the south, to Sennar, White Nile state, and Blue Nile state.

According to the latest flash update on El Gezira by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan, there are about 270,000 people in Wad Madani in need of humanitarian assistance.