Sudan war: Battles for Khartoum and El Fasher continue, clashes in El Gedaref

Battles between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued for the second day in a row in Khartoum state yesterday. Continued fierce fighting between the two warring parties and their supporters for the control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, left dozens of people dead and injured. The RSF are reportedly preparing for an attack on Kulbus in West Darfur. SAF-RSF clashes were also reported from El Fao in eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref.

The Sudanese Air Force launched intensive air strikes on RSF sites in Khartoum and Khartoum North (Bahri).

Sources told Radio Dabanga that the areas of El Mogran in northwest Khartoum (where the (where the two Niles meet), and El Halfaya and El Kadaro in Khartoum North witnessed mutual artillery shelling. Many social media users posted pictures of smoke rising in the two cities.

The sources confirmed that army units were deployed in El Halfaya, which is witnessing back-and-forth operations.

A source from Omdurman confirmed that the SAF deployed reinforcements from the Omdurman Military Area with the participation of support battalions, special operations units, and forces from the General Intelligence Service (GIS).

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.

Pro-SAF sources claimed the SAF seized control of the Halfaya Bridge between Omdurman and Khartoum North, the Iron Bridge and the White Nile Bridge linking Omdurman to Khartoum, but a senior RSF official denied the news and said that the paramilitaries had repelled failed attacks to take control of these bridges.

The army intends to enter through the El Mogran area in the northwestern part of Khartoum in order to join its forces at the General Command in the centre of the city. These attempts are met with violent resistance from the RSF stationed in El Mogran and central Khartoum. The SAF is also trying to advance into Khartoum Bahri via the El Halfaya Bridge.

El Fasher

In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, 19 people were killed and dozens were injured by continued RSF artillery shelling on the city on Friday.

A citizen from El Fasher told Radio Dabanga that the RSF bombed the El Fasher livestock market.

In May, the RSF intensified its siege on El Fasher. People who did not flee the city are witnessing continuous shelling by the paramilitaries. The battles recently intensified as the RSF has launched an offensive to get the entire city under its control.

El Fasher is the last of the five Darfur state capitals not under RSF control. Residents fear that full RSF control of the city could ignite strife between Arab tribesmen supporting the RSF and the Zaghawa from which most fighters of the North Darfur rebel movements hail.

‘Inhumane operations’

In a press statement, the de facto North Darfur government yesterday condemned the “continued RSF violence against unarmed citizens, service institutions, and markets” in the state capital.

The statement denounced “the inhumane operations consisting of intensified random raids on Thursday and Friday, targeting the livestock market and the neighbourhoods of Timbasi, El Radeef, El Wadi, El Sawra South and El Modarij, killing more than 62 people” and the shelling of the Naivasha market in the Abu Shouk camp for the displaced in northern El Fasher, whereby an unknown number of people were killed.

The North Darfur government called “the direct targeting of civilians in their homes, service centres, and markets as shameful behaviour that represents a clear violation of human rights and of all international humanitarian norms and laws”.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Thursday warned of “a growing, horrific toll on civilians” in the North Darfur capital.

“Over the past two weeks, the battle for El Fasher has escalated significantly and we have documented increasing incidents of civilians being killed as a result of shelling and airstrikes by both the RSF and the SAF,” he said.

“In the heaviest recent fighting, on 20 to 21 September, at least 20 civilians were killed by artillery shelling near the main market, and many shops were destroyed. The actual number of civilian casualties is believed to be much higher, but telecommunications blackouts have made verification difficult.

“In the past two weeks, in addition to rising civilian casualties, the UN Human Rights Office has documented cases of summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence, and reported abductions of at least five women and several young men in El Fasher. There have also been reports of large-scale arbitrary arrests in North and South Darfur by the RSF who accuse civilians of providing information and coordinates of their locations to the SAF,” the press release reads.

“Due to targeted attacks on medical facilities, civilians also have been denied access to urgent healthcare, and food supplies are extremely limited.

“From bitter past experience, if El Fasher falls, there is a high risk of ethnically targeted violations and abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence, by the RSF and allied militia,” Türk added.

He in particular cited his concerns for the residents of the Abu Shouk camp, “which has come under sustained shelling by the RSF since May”, and the Zamzam camp. “People in those camps are at grave risk of retaliatory attacks based on their tribal identity, real or perceived, as coming from the same communities as leaders of armed movements aligned with the SAF,” Türk said.

The High Commissioner pointed to the findings of monitoring missions to eastern Chad by the UN Human Rights Office which documented horrific patterns of ethnically targeted violations and abuses, specifically against the Masalit community, after the RSF took control of El Geneina and Ardamata in West Darfur in June and November 2023.

Türk also highlighted concerns about the escalation of hostilities and increasing civilian casualties in other parts of the country, including in greater Khartoum and in Sennar state.

“The fighting must stop at once. Enough is enough,” he said. “In addition to their obligations under international humanitarian law, the parties to this conflict must also live up to the commitments accepted in the Jeddah Declaration to protect civilians and engage in good faith with mediation efforts.

Two weeks ago, the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab reported that the widespread aerial and artillery attacks of El Fasher are likely to effectively reduce what is left of the city to rubble.

‘Relative calm’

The situation in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, is “relatively calm after the RSF have withdrawn towards the north of the city in preparation for attacks on Kulbus”, a resident told Radio Dabanga yesterday.

“They are now concentrated in the villages of Kandobi, Salia and Sirba,” he stated.

Kulbus lies 70 km north of El Geneina.

Eastern Sudan

Fighting between the SAF and RSF also took place in El Fao locality in El Gedaref, neighbouring El Gezira.

Sources reported violent clashes in the areas of Um El Gura and El Buweida since 11:00 yesterday, after RSF paramilitaries “in a large number of combat vehicles” attacked several army sites.

They added that the Sudanese Air Force “launched extensive air raids against the RSF force that entered the El Buweida area. The bombing continued until they reached El Butana” in northern El Gedaref.

Another source said that parts of the RSF unit that came through Village 40 was confronted by an army force using heavy artillery. “Some of the RSF troops withdrew towards El Gezira and others towards El Butana,” he said, and pointed to rumours saying that Maj Gen Abu Agla Keikel commanded the RSF force that attacked El Fao from the El Buweida axis.