SAF-RSF battles rage unabated across Sudan

Battles and skirmishes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue in several theatres across the country. Both sides are accused of violations.

The RSF renewed their attack on the Signal Corps base area in Kober in Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri) on Monday evening. The SAF claim to have “repelled the third attack of its kind in two days”.

Earlier this week, the army took control of the strategic Wad El Bashir bridge that links Omdurman with Um Rawaba in North Kordofan. The bridge has been an important artery for supplying the RSF from the western regions of Sudan via the Omdurman-Bara highway.

The SAF continued the siege on the Ed Doha neighbourhood, while, army artillery continued to shell targets in neighbourhoods of El Salha in the southern part of the city. At the same time, the RSF shelled Karari neighbourhoods in northern Omdurman and the nearby army base of Wadi Sedna as well as Khartoum North.

In end December, the army began an offensive against the RSF. In mid-February, a breakthrough in central Omdurman, the nation’s largest city was reported.

The Abrof Resistance Committees allege that members of the army and police plundered homes in old Omdurman, taking furniture and other valuables, while officers and officials “turned a blind eye”.

The committees lament that during the period of about a year that the area was under the control of the RSF, people were subject to all kinds of violations, including killing, looting, theft, forced disappearance, displacement, and occupation of citizens’ homes. Video clips circulated on social media showed vehicles carrying stolen property to be sold in Sabreen Market.

The police have confirmed multiple reports of theft and violation in central Omdurman, including the old parts, following the SAF takeover. Police spokesperson, Brig Fathelrahman El Tom, conceded in a statement on social media that there are a number of reports of thefts in the neighbourhoods of old Omdurman.

“The police have taken the necessary measures to reduce thefts in these neighbourhoods. There is a joint patrol and bases in a number of old Omdurman neighbourhoods to contain thefts and pursue thieves,” he said.

The police have begun investigations to find the perpetrators. An urgent meeting of the Khartoum State Security Committee has been held “regarding this phenomenon”.

North Darfur

In North Darfur, three displaced people from the Abu Shouk camp in the capital El Fasher were injured, and homes and buildings of the state Ministry of Animal Resources were damaged, in an exchange of shelling between the army and the RSF on Monday.

A shell also landed in the Naivasha market in the Abu Shouk camp for the displaced, causing a state of terror and panic.

Ismail Khareef told Radio Dabanga that the Abuja camp (also called El Salam camp) has also become a battlefield because of the continuing clashes between the two sides. People called on the warring parties to stop the war and provide protection to civilians.

El Gedaref / El Gezira

The RSF launched an attack on Major Khamsa in El Fao in western El Gedaref, neighbouring El Gezira, on Monday, while the SAF claim on their Facebook page to have repelled the attack.

The resistance committees of Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, denied reports of the progress of the army and regular forces besieging El Gezira from several axes, noting in a statement on social media that “the RSF continue their violations in the state”.

A source reported to Radio Dabanga that SAF soldiers confiscated four Starlink satellite communication devices in the area of El Azazi near El Managil in El Gezira, which is still under control of the army, while the communications network partially returned to a number of villages in the state with difficulty.

West Kordofan

In West Kordofan, fierce fighting between the army and the RSF continued in Babanousa for a third day as aerial bombardment continued.

Residents of the town reported deaths and injuries among SAF and RSF soldiers, but no party made significant progress.