Sudan Nashra: Burhan orders armed groups out of Khartoum as officials encourage civilians to return Airstrikes kill senior RSF commander in Kordofan Sudanese pound plummets to lowest level since war's outbreak

Mada

3 days ago

In a bid to encourage the return of civilians, a committee formed by Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been tasked with overseeing the withdrawal of all armed factions from Khartoum by early August.
The move comes amid mounting concerns over lawlessness and the proliferation of weapons among military-allied factions still active in the capital. Four residents from across Khartoum told Mada Masr there has been a rise in armed looting in their neighborhoods.
In western Sudan, and at the height of the rainy season, a cholera outbreak is sweeping through Darfur, where floods have contaminated water sources and triggered new waves of displacement to already-overwhelmed areas. Since early July, dozens have died from the disease and over 1,500 confirmed cases of cholera have been reported. As local medics note the deterioration of facilities' capacity following years of conflict and overcrowding due to displacement, international aid groups are struggling to respond amid security concerns and a severe funding gap.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese pound has plunged to its lowest level against foreign currencies since the war broke out, trading at an average of 3,200 to the US dollar on the parallel market.
On the battlefield, the military resumed airstrikes this week across the three states of Kordofan, killing a senior Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander on Wednesday. The military is now amassing forces toward North Kordofan in a bid to retake the city of Bara — a move that, if successful, would pave the way toward advancing on the besieged city of Fasher in North Darfur.
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Amid concerns of security breakdown in Khartoum, Burhan orders armed groups out as officials encourage civilians to return
As Sudanese civilians return to a capital city devastated by two years of war, a new committee has been formed by TSC Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to remove armed factions from Khartoum amid mounting concerns over lawlessness and the proliferation of weapons among military-allied factions still active in the capital.
Areas such as Karari and Dar Essalam in Omdurman and East Nile in Bahri have seen an uptick in armed robberies and gang-related violence, four residents told Mada Masr.
Alongside the TSC-led effort, Prime Minister Kamel Idris also paid his first visit to Khartoum last week since assuming office in May. Touring several neighborhoods, Idris announced a six-month plan to facilitate the return of civilians and government institutions to the city.
On the same day, July 18, TSC member Ibrahim Gaber, who chairs the new TSC committee tasked with disarming Khartoum, spoke to crowds in Bahri — one of the three cities that make up Greater Khartoum.
Gaber described the committee's aims of reestablishing order and restoring basic services. Trained Interior Ministry forces have already been deployed in the capital and checkpoints have been set up to protect civilians and their property, Gaber said.
Burhan has also issued a decree ordering all armed groups to withdraw from the capital within two weeks under the supervision of the military's General Staff, while the committee held its first meeting on Saturday with Idris in attendance.
The committee's mandate includes securing the capital, regulating the presence of foreign nationals, restoring disrupted services, rehabilitating infrastructure and identifying new locations for government ministries.
The urgency reflects growing alarm over deteriorating security in Khartoum. Two years of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have left weapons in the hands of groups that had fought alongside the military prior to its full takeover of Khartoum in May. The groups are now increasingly blamed for fueling lawlessness in the capital.
The joint force of military-allied armed movements issued a statement on July 19 denying involvement in looting, theft or intimidation in Khartoum, claiming the crimes were perpetrated by armed men impersonating its fighters. The group said it arrested several gang members and handed them over to the military.
Blaming the capital's sprawling geography for hindering police's effectiveness, a security source in Khartoum State told Mada Masr that military-allied forces continue to track remnants of the RSF in several neighborhoods, particularly on the outskirts. The official called on residents to assist security efforts by reporting suspicious activity.
Earlier this month, authorities announced a security campaign targeting gangs and looters.
Despite the deteriorating security situation, officials say they are moving forward with plans to rebuild Khartoum amid the gradual return of displaced residents.
Idris held a press conference at the Cabinet's headquarters on Sunday, urging citizens to return to Khartoum, and staking out key priorities, including restored access to water and electricity, improving security and livelihoods, and reopening the Khartoum International Airport.
Khartoum has seen slight improvements in services in recent weeks. Authorities announced the partial restoration of water supply from several key stations after months of outages. But the electricity sector remains badly hit. Nearly 90 percent of the power infrastructure has been destroyed, an engineer in the Sudan Electricity Holding Company told Mada Masr.
Some major hospitals have resumed operations, though most are hampered by severe shortages in medicine and medical equipment.
More than 50 bridges and key public facilities have been damaged, according to Zuelfaqqar Ali, general secretary of the Supreme Council for Human Development and Labor, who told Mada Masr that the cost of rebuilding them is expected to run into the billions of Sudanese pounds.
The Sudanese Defense Industries Organization sponsored last week the return of around 1,000 Sudanese citizens from Egypt, one of a number of initiatives seeking to incentivize return since April. The governor of Khartoum has also called on citizens to return and contribute to the reconstruction efforts — though many residents of Khartoum have flagged that basic services restrict their ability to survive in the city.
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Airstrikes kill senior RSF commander in Kordofan as military prepares push toward Bara
The SAF carried out a series of airstrikes on strategic positions in the Kordofan region this week, killing a senior RSF commander, as the military ramps up preparations for a ground offensive to retake the city of Bara in North Kordofan, according to military sources who spoke to Mada Masr.
Since the military regained Khartoum State in May, the main battleground has shifted westward to the states of North, South and West Kordofan.
Taj Youssef Folajang, a senior RSF commander and leader of the unit known as Group 13, was killed on Wednesday in the city of Abu Zabad, West Kordofan, when a drone strike hit a meeting of RSF field leaders, according to a military source who spoke to Mada Masr. Several RSF vehicles were also destroyed in the attack.
The source said the drone strikes are part of a broader preemptive strategy which seeks to weaken the RSF ahead of upcoming ground operations. The strikes targeted warehouses, combat vehicles and command points across all three Kordofan states.
Folajang fought with the RSF since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, playing a key role in major operations in southern Khartoum, including attacks on the Central Reserve Forces, the Armored Corps and the Signal Corps in Bahri, east of the capital. He sustained an injury during clashes in late 2024 that led to the amputation of his leg.
After his injury, Folajang returned to Kordofan to oversee RSF operations in Babanusa. A member of the Messiria tribe, he was considered one of the RSF's most influential commanders and enjoyed wide support among its ranks.
An RSF field source told Mada Masr that tensions briefly flared among commanders in Abu Zabad following Folajang's death, with some exchanging accusations of complicity in his killing.
The military's drones also struck an RSF site in the city of Fula, West Kordofan, on Monday, according to another military source who spoke to Mada Masr.
In addition to the strike that killed the RSF commander in Abu Zabad, another targeted combat vehicles on Wednesday, while a separate drone attack scattered fighters preparing to launch an assault on the Um Samima area, west of Obeid in North Kordofan, the source said.
The following day, several strikes hit RSF positions in Debeibat, South Kordofan, according to the source.
Meanwhile, the military is bolstering its ground presence around Bara in preparation for an assault to retake the city. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in RSF raids in the Bara locality in recent weeks.
According to the second military source, special operations units have been deployed to the area, joining reinforcements from the General Intelligence Service's elite forces and Abu Agla Keikel's Sudan Shield Forces, which arrived last week.
A former military officer told Mada Masr that fighting in Kordofan is expected to drag on, as the RSF continues to mobilize forces to block any military advance toward Darfur — the paramilitary group's main stronghold and command hub. An RSF collapse in Kordofan, the source said, would likely lead to an unraveling of its hold on Darfur.
But so far, the military has 'inflicted significant losses on the RSF in Kordofan through airstrikes and direct clashes,' the former officer said, adding that the military has employed a range of tactics to wear their forces down.
These include launching attacks, pulling back to regroup, and striking again, while simultaneously reinforcing their positions in preparation for a decisive blow to the RSF's core in Kordofan, according to the officer.
Current operations are also focused on targeting RSF leadership through drone surveillance, intelligence networks and special forces, the former officer said. Eliminating one of their commanders, they added, has an immediate impact: it paralyzes their forces, weakens morale and sparks internal rifts.
The officer expects clashes to escalate around Bara over the next two weeks. Once retaken, the military would likely move toward Fasher via the northern route through Gabra al-Sheikh and Mazroub, advancing into Darfur, they said.
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Cholera kills 94 as disease sweeps across Darfur amid heavy rains
Cholera has spread across the Darfur region in recent weeks, killing dozens, as flooding combines with protracted armed conflict and a collapsing health system to further complicate emergency response efforts.
The spike in cases accompanies the peak of the rainy season, with heavy downpours since early July causing widespread flooding to contaminate water sources. At the same time, the flooding has triggered new waves of displacement and worsened conditions in already overcrowded camps, where limited access to clean water and sanitation has allowed the disease to spread rapidly.
In North Darfur's Tawila locality — which has absorbed a steady flow of displaced people from Fasher and nearby camps following the RSF's deadly takeover of the Zamzam camp in April — 59 people died of cholera in the second week of July, said Tasneem al-Amin of the Sudan Doctors Network.
Amin told Mada Masr that 1,331 cholera cases were recorded in the same week, including 793 men, 538 women and 278 children. Many North Darfurian villages lack health facilities equipped to deal with the outbreak and access to safe drinking water, she said.
In South Darfur, over 40 cholera deaths, mostly children and elderly people, were recorded in the first week of July alongside 500 cases of cholera, three medical sources from displacement camps told Mada Masr.
The outbreak exposes the fragile state of public infrastructure in Darfur — a crisis that long predates the current war. Years of neglect have left many communities reliant on open, unprotected wells. Repeated waves of violence have also forced thousands into camps with no proper hygiene systems.
In West Darfur, ongoing armed clashes between the RSF and armed groups — part of the RSF's broader security campaign to impose control in the area — have also blocked medical relief teams from reaching affected communities. Residents in several areas across the state are relying on rainwater collected in hand-dug pits for drinking, a source in West Darfur told Mada Masr.
The region's already overstretched health system is also critically short on the intravenous fluids and antibiotics needed to treat severe cholera cases.
Healthcare providers in Darfur are working under grueling conditions with limited resources, a doctor in Fasher told Mada Masr. 'But their efforts are not enough against an outbreak of this scale,' they said, calling for urgent, large-scale international support.
'This isn't just a passing health crisis,' the doctor added. 'It's a stark indicator of a broader collapse in the region's humanitarian conditions, one that requires a comprehensive solution addressing the root causes of the crisis, from the provision of clean drinking water to achieving political and security stability in the region.'
Khadiga Moussa, a health official from the Darfur regional government, told Mada Masr that emergency response teams from the World Health Organization and Médecins Sans Frontieres are working to establish temporary treatment units and distribute disinfection supplies, but their efforts are constrained by logistical challenges and mounting security risks that restrict access to key outbreak zones. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is also involved in prevention efforts, distributing water purification tablets and soap and conducting hygiene awareness campaigns, Moussa said.
These efforts face a significant funding gap, however. The UN's humanitarian coordination agency says only 16 percent of the funding needed for the cholera response has been secured, threatening to halt critical interventions even as the rainy season continues and temperatures rise — ideal conditions for further spread.
A cholera outbreak was declared in Sudan in 2024, with a spike in cases recorded in Khartoum earlier this year. This surge occurred as civilians returned to the capital after the SAF had regained control of the city two years into the war.
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Sudanese pound plummets amid rapid economic collapse
The Sudanese pound recorded a steep decline this week, falling to new lows as the war, now in its third year, continues to erode confidence in the country's economy.
On Wednesday, the pound was trading at an average of 3,200 to the US dollar on the parallel market, dropping by nearly 500 over just a few days, according to a source at the Central Bank of Sudan who spoke to Mada Masr.
The decline marks a depreciation of over 453 percent in the value of the Sudanese pound over the past two years. The pound stood at around 578.57 to the dollar in early 2023.
Official rates posted by several commercial banks kept the pound at around 2,250 to the dollar, while the Bank of Khartoum listed it at 2,400 pounds on Thursday, up from 2,140 on Tuesday.
But the gap between official and parallel rates reflects waning public trust in the banking sector.
Hitting the pound's value is a halt in foreign remittances and the withdrawal of deposits held in domestic banks. Traders are increasingly turning away from domestic banks too, with importers unable to obtain Sudanese-backed credit.
The central bank's increasing reliance on printing unbacked currency has also driven inflation higher and accelerated dollarization, as more people turn away from the national currency.
At the same time, currency is hard to come by on the parallel market. A trader in the export sector told Mada Masr that surging demand for dollars from both companies and individuals has led currency dealers in the parallel market to stop selling and instead hold on to foreign currency, anticipating the pound to depreciate further with time. The result has redoubled the strain on trade.
Meanwhile, inflation has compounded as citizens return to areas of Sudan recaptured by the military — particularly Khartoum — driving up demand for imported goods and fuel, thus increasing demand for foreign currency.