Sudan: ‘largest ground attack’ on El Fasher kills 30, more RSF violence reported from Blue Nile, El Gezira, and Khartoum

At least 30 people were killed in ‘the largest ground attack’ by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur on Saturday. RSF paramilitaries killed 23 villagers in El Gezira on Thursday. Clashes between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) were reported from Blue Nile region. Groups of RSF fighters raided several neighbourhoods in Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri).

The resistance committees of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, reported on Saturday that 23 people were killed and 60 others were injured in RSF artillery shelling on the city. Seven others, from one family, were killed in an air raid on the El Salam Abuja camp for the displaced in the northeast part of El Fasher.

People living in El Fasher told Radio Dabanga that the Sudanese Air Force bombed RSF sites on Saturday morning, and that the RSF fired shells towards the Sixth Infantry Division Command in the north of the city, the El Sawra neighbourhoods, and areas adjacent to the El Fasher Livestock Market.

The Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction led by Minni Minawi, governor of Darfur, said on Saturday that the SAF, the Darfur Joint Force, made up of combatants of several rebel movements fighting alongside the SAF, and the Resistance Youth repelled the largest ground attack by the RSF on El Fasher so far.

The city witnessed fierce battles since dawn, the SLM-MM stated in its daily operational situation bulletin on Facebook.

The battles, which concentrated on the southern and southeastern neighbourhoods of El Fasher, lasted more than six hours.

The joint forces repelled RSF attacks on the southern parts of the city. The SLM-MM said that the RSF, after its attacks were repelled, resorted to artillery shelling from outside the city. This led to the killing of 18 people in a building near the Saudi Hospital and five others in other places. About 60 others sustained varying injuries.

The shelling also destroyed the Tambasi Health Centre and homes in various neighbourhoods.

The Darfur Joint Force added that it would continue combing the eastern, southeastern, and northeastern neighbourhoods of the city.

In contrast, X accounts loyal to the RSF posted videos showing vehicles seized from the joint force.

‘Worst place to live’

The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate-in-formation said in a report last week that El Fasher has become “the most dangerous and worst place to live”. The syndicate urged “everyone to immediately and unconditionally stop the fighting in El Fasher and surrounding areas, and to open and protect safe corridors for the transport of humanitarian and medical aid.

For four months now, El Fasher is witnessing ongoing SAF-RSF battles, making the city “hell on earth”. In early May, UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Toby Harward described the situation in El Fasher and surroundings as “catastrophic”.

Prices of increasingly scarce commodities like food, water and fuel soared, putting large numbers of people at risk of hunger and disease. The city also suffers from a disruption of communications services, and people rely on the expensive Starlink network to communicate with the outer world.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) on Thursday declared a famine in Zamzam camp neighbouring El Fasher in the south. Famine is also likely in the Abu Shouk and El Salam (aka Abuja) camps in the North Darfur capital, “but limited available evidence reduces the ability to confirm or deny a classification”.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported several times last week that dwindling stock – only sufficient for another two weeks – has compelled them to limit the number of children who can receive treatment in North Darfur.

El Tadamon

The RSF announced on Saturday that its paramilitaries launched a violent attack on the areas of Gireiwa and Gulli in El Tadamon governorate in the Blue Nile region*, adjacent to Sennar state, of which the it seized large parts last month.

The paramilitary group posted footage on its X account, saying it had taken control of the Gireiwa area.

The SAF in turn showed a video clip of people in Gulli providing meals to army soldiers and stated that the clip was filmed after the Fourth Infantry Division repelled the RSF troops.

The resistance committees of Ed Damazin, capital of the state, reported on Saturday that the RSF attacks killed and wounded an unknown number of people in El Tadamon.

In a statement on their Facebook account, they stated that an RSF unit stormed the area of Gireiwa, “which was free of any army presence”, and attacked the residents and robbed them of their belongings. When the attackers reached Gulli, the Sudanese army force present there, repelled them.

The Ed Damazin Resistance Committees further renewed their appeal for the return of communications and internet services, which were cut off four weeks ago, and also halts remittances sent from abroad via Sudanese bank apps like Bankak or Fawry.

The telephone service of the Zain network seems to gradually return to Ed Damazin, although “it is very weak and unstable”.

El Managil

RSF soldiers raided the village of El Adnab in El Managil in western El Gezira on Thursday. At least 23 people were killed, and 14 others were wounded.

The Sudanese Doctors Network on Saturday strongly condemned the “massacre” in which its member Fathelrahman Abdelmahmoud was also killed.

Radio Dabanga reported earlier on RSF elements attacking villages in El Gezira, which they seized from the SAF in December last year.

Two months ago, more than 100 people were killed in Wad El Noura village by the RSF on one day.

Khartoum North

The Bahri Observatory for Human Rights (BOHR) said in a statement on its Facebook page that on Saturday evening that the RSF stormed the El Shayga, El Ghar, and El Isdab neighbourhoods in the north of Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri).

After bombardments on a RSF base in the area named ‘military manufacturing’, the paramilitaries reportedly accused the residents of the area of sending coordinates of paramilitary sites to the SAF.

The BOHR said that the attacks on the neighbourhoods lasted for 12 hours. The residents were subjected to threats of killing, torture and detention. They were beaten with whips and robbed of their telephones and money. Most of the shops were also plundered.

The observatory called on the RSF command to protect civilians and “hold accountable those responsible for these violations”, and on the international community “to urgently intervene to ensure the safety and security of the population and provide them with the necessary support”.

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* In August 2022, Gen Ahmed El Omda, governor of the then Blue Nile state, issued a number of decrees, based on the October 2020 Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), by which the state became a region, and the seven Blue Nile localities Ed Damazin, El Roseires, Wad El Mahi, Bau, Geisan, El Tadamon, and Kurmuk became ‘governorates’. International IDEA stated in an analysis last year that though the Blue Nile and [South and West] Kordofan protocol incorporated in the JPA, grants autonomy to these areas, it does not specifically provide that they become a region.