Dozens injured in North Darfur skirmishes

El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, has witnessed ongoing skirmishes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allied militias against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at the northern and eastern directions of the city since Friday morning.

According to the El Fasher Emergency Room, dozens of civilians were injured and were transferred to El Fasher Southern Hospital as a result of being hit by shells and crossfire. Some of them require urgent surgical intervention and operations.

The source stated that a lack of ambulances and continuous confrontations limit the arrival of the wounded, putting their lives at risk. They called on the parties to the fighting to open safe corridors for medical teams to enter and evacuate the wounded, especially in the Masani and El Wefag neighbourhoods.

According to witnesses, SAF and the Darfur Joint Force, made up of combatants of several rebel movements, launched a pre-emptive strike on the bases of the RSF in the Masani and El Wehda neighbourhoods with extensive use of weapons, heavy artillery, and bombers in northeastern part of the city of El Fasher. Columns of smoke were seen rising in the neighbourhoods of El Wehda, El Wefag, and El Masani.

Local sources have told media reported heavy clashes in parts of the city including its power plant.

El Fasher Emergency Room previously reported that the city witnessed intermittent clashes on Thursday. The violence led to the death of a child and injured family members by a shell that hit their house in the Deim Silik neighbourhood, in the northeast.

A resident told Radio Dabanga that El Fasher is experiencing instability and paralysis, with limited civilian movement between neighbourhoods, and forcing the closure of marketplaces due to the ongoing conflict between the belligerents.

“The humanitarian situation in the city has become tragic due to the increasing number of displaced people in camps and shelters, along with the sharp inflation of commodities,” he said. “This is due to the closure of the entrances into El Fasher amongst the northern side, where supplies and necessities arrive from Mellit.”

In this regard, the deputy UN humanitarian coordinator in Darfur, Toby Harward, wrote on his account on the “X” platform, that “Reports of escalating clashes in the city are deeply disturbing. The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting. The parties must fulfil their obligations to preserve the safety of civilians and stop the escalation immediately.”

SAF Deputy Commander-in-Chief Yasir El Atta stated earlier that the army will use El Fasher as a main military base to retake the four states in the Darfur region, that is currently controlled by the RSF. Videos released by SAF show the reactions of its soldiers and a few civilians with seized RSF materiel after Friday’s clashes within the city.

The RSF released a media statement on the fighting, stating that it “thwarted a deceptive assault by SAF…The attack, launched from three directions, targeted RSF positions, breached defences, and led to significant civilian casualties in residential neighbourhoods and displaced camps, compelling thousands to evacuate the area.”

Minni Minnawi, governor of the Darfur region, said on X platform that “The joint force and other regular forces have defeated the RSF, burned a number of its combat vehicles, and forced it to retreat from El Fasher.”

Sudanese conflict resolution expert Suliman Baldo commented on X on the latest El Fasher developments by saying that the “RSF attacking El Fasher, a symbol of harmonious ethnic cohabitation, is risky. But its control would allow Hemedti to control trade routes with Libya and humanitarian aid to Darfur. If El Fasher falls, this would accelerate Sudan’s de facto partition.”

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, the RSF is planning to launch a large-scale ground offensive from several fronts on El Fasher, The UN Security Council (UNSC) has expressed ‘deep concern’ about the ongoing conflict and related humanitarian catastrophe in El Fasher, and called on the warring parties to immediately halt attacks on the city.

In recent weeks, the RSF has made military gains by capturing the town of Mellit, a strategically important area about 60 kilometres from El Fasher.

As reported by Radio Dabanga earlier today, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, has urged the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to take “immediate action” to open the border crossing from Adré in Chad, and lift current restrictions at other border crossings to ensure the effective, sustained delivery of lifesaving assistance to people in urgent need across Sudan”.

In a telephone call with Lt Gen Shamseldin Kabbashi, deputy commander of the SAF and member of the Sovereignty Council, Power cited “Sudan’s long history of bureaucratic obstructionism of humanitarians,” and urged Kabbashi and the SAF “to take immediate and specific steps to lift impediments to humanitarian aid operations.”

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report providing new evidence of atrocities committed by the RSF in West Darfur. The 218-page report indicates that the paramilitary RSF and allied militias deliberately targeted non-Arab Masalit people in El Geneina, the state capital, last year.