New govt. attacks on rebel sites in Darfur’s Jebel Marra

The mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement headed by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) claims its fighters withstood militia attacks on rebel bases in East Jebel Marra on Friday.

The movement's spokesman, Waleed Abakar, told Radio Dabanga that two convoys of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan's main militia, backed by gunmen on camels and horses launched new attacks on the movement’s sites in South Darfur’s East Jebel Marra.

“On Friday morning, one militia convoy moved from the Gakoro military garrison and the other one left the Rufta garrison to attack the SLM-AW sites in the areas of Gulik, Abulkheirat. and Sedda,” he said.

He said their forces repulsed the militiamen in the area of Luo, west of the Rufta garrison, and Terela, northwest of Gakoro.

The fighting was ongoing until sunset on Friday.

Offensives

During the dry seasons (roughly between January-and May) in the past years, government forces have made various attempts to eliminate the SLM-AW bases in the Jebel Marra region.

In March this year, rebel sites in East Jebel Marra were attacked. The fighting caused an estimated 50,000 people to flee their villages in the area.

Last year, the attacks focused on northwest Jebel Marra. According to an RSF spokesman in February 2017, Darfur became “free of armed movements, suspects, and outlaws, except for a small [SLM-AW] group stationed at the top of Jebel Marra”.

In 2016, more than 80,000 people were displaced by a major military offensive against the holdout rebels in the mountainous region of the Jebel Marra.