Sudan Nashra: RSF reclaim strategic areas in Kordofan, bomb hospital in Obeid Burhan forms committee to investigate US chemical weapons claim

Mada

2 days ago

As ground battles between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shift to the Kordofan states in western Sudan, newly appointed Prime Minister Kamel Idriss arrived in Port Sudan to formally assume office for the renewed transitional period.
Idriss is working to assemble his administrative team in secrecy, a source in the cabinet told Mada Masr, and has yet to engage with any political or military blocs for the new government. According to a source in the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC), Idriss is expected to retain some ministers and has been granted full autonomy in selecting his cabinet without interference from either the military or the council. The source also ruled out the inclusion of any armed group not party to the Juba Peace Agreement in the new government.
Meanwhile, in response to accusations from the United States that Sudan has used chemical weapons — and Washington's decision to impose sanctions — TSC Chair and military Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the claims. A senior Foreign Ministry official said the move was made at the ministry's recommendation to adhere to international protocol.
On the health front, a major surge in the cholera outbreak has swept through the capital Khartoum, with Omdurman at the epicenter. The disease is spreading rapidly amid a collapsed healthcare system and widespread water contamination, exacerbated by RSF shelling of water and electricity stations. Overcrowded hospitals have left patients receiving treatment in the streets.
In North Kordofan, an RSF drone strike hit the Daman Hospital in Obeid, killing six people and injuring several others, including medical staff. The attack caused heavy damage and forced the hospital out of service, further straining an already overwhelmed health infrastructure.
On the battlefield, the RSF regained control of strategic areas in South and West Kordofan, including Debeibat, Hammadi and Khawi, following a major build-up in the region to push back the military's advance toward Darfur.
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New prime minister arrives in Port Sudan
Newly appointed Prime Minister Kamel Idriss arrived in Port Sudan on Thursday ahead of his anticipated swearing in and formal assumption of duties in Sudan's administrative capital.
His appointment was announced when Burhan issued a constitutional decree on May 19, naming Idriss — an independent former presidential hopeful and UN official — as prime minister. The move followed internal disputes within the TSC over the earlier nominee, Sudan's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dafallah al-Hajj Ali, whose ties to the former regime, coupled with the sweeping authorities granted to the premiership's position, sparked concerns among the council's members.
Idriss is assembling his administrative team in secrecy and has not yet communicated with any political or military groups to form the new government, a senior cabinet official told Mada Masr.
The new prime minister — the first in the position since transitional Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned in January 2022 — is expected to retain several current ministers, an informed source in the TSC told Mada Masr, stressing that the choice of cabinet members will be entirely his, without input from the military or the TSC. As for armed groups fighting alongside the military, the source said there has been no communication or appointments that would include any armed faction other than those signatory to the Juba Peace Agreement.
Local reports had suggested military-allied Sudan Shield Forces led by Abu Agla Keikel and Baraa ibn Malik brigades would be part of Idriss's upcoming government.
Government spokesperson Khalid al-Eaisar described Idriss's arrival in Port Sudan as marking 'a new chapter of hope and democratic transition.'
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Burhan orders investigation into US allegations of chemical weapons use
Sudan will face US sanctions over the use of chemical weapons in 2024, the US State Department stated on May 22, a claim the government denied, calling it 'unsubstantiated.'
The sanctions include restrictions on US exports to Sudan and limits on access to US government credit lines.
In response, Burhan issued a decree on Thursday establishing a national committee to investigate the allegations.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the formation of the committee reflects 'compliance with Sudan's international obligations, including the Chemical Weapons Convention,' and aligns with the government's 'policy of transparency.' The ministry also reiterated Sudan's rejection of the US accusations.
Government spokesperson Khalid al-Eaisar condemned the US decision a day after it was made public, describing it as part of a broader pattern of missteps in Washington's policy toward Sudan. 'What distinguishes the present moment,' he said, 'is that such interventions — devoid of moral and legal justification — are further eroding Washington's credibility and shutting the door to any future influence in Sudan through its unilateral and unjust actions.'
According to Burhan's decree, the national committee will include representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs and defense, as well as the General Intelligence Service. It has been tasked with investigating the claims and submitting its report promptly.
A senior official at the Foreign Ministry told Mada Masr that the committee was formed based on ministry recommendations to adhere to diplomatic protocols rather than resorting to political responses. The US claims lack any supporting evidence, the official added, emphasizing the importance of grounding Sudan's response in international principles.
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RSF regains control of strategic areas in South, West Kordofan
Territorial control in Kordofan continues to shift between the military and the RSF as the former presses to assert control in the region and push toward Darfur. Over the past week, the RSF retook strategic areas following heavy clashes.
Fighting broke out Thursday in the city of Debeibat, South Kordofan, where the RSF ultimately reclaimed control, a field source told Mada Masr. The paramilitary group stated that it had inflicted heavy losses on the military and its allied forces, reiterating its intent to retake all territory held by the military.
The field source said the RSF also seized the town of Hammadi on its northward advance. Videos circulated by RSF fighters appear to confirm their presence in the area. The military had taken control of Hammadi on May 13 and stormed Debeibat on May 23, before the RSF reversed those gains.
On Thursday afternoon, the military carried out several airstrikes on RSF gatherings inside Debeibat, resulting in casualties, including injuries to a prominent RSF commander in Kordofan, another field source told Mada Masr.
The RSF had been mobilizing large forces from Kordofan and Darfur over the past few days to push back the military's advance and recapture key strategic areas, the source said.
Debeibat holds a strategic importance as a junction linking the three Kordofan states. For the military, control of the city would have paved the way to the city of Dalang in South Kordofan and allowed the military to lift the siege on its forces there — forces that have previously engaged in heavy fighting with the RSF and allied militias in the same region.
Simultaneously, the RSF launched a large-scale attack on the town of Khawi in West Kordofan on Thursday, capturing it on Friday morning after the military retreated. A local source told Mada Masr that RSF fighters bypassed an advanced military defense line and reached the town's outskirts.
In a statement on Thursday, military-allied armed movements' joint force said that it secured a 'sweeping victory' in the Khawi front and that the battle took place just kilometers outside the town. The statement said 344 RSF fighters, including field commanders, were killed, and 67 trucks were destroyed before the remaining RSF forces fled.
But the RSF resumed its offensive on Khawi and ultimately established full control the following day, pushing military units, allied armed movements and supporting battalions back toward the outskirts of Obeid, a local source told Mada Masr. RSF troops also advanced northward from South Kordofan to the Kazgil area south of Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan.
Khawi has seen repeated rounds of heavy fighting, most notably on May 13, when the military dealt a significant blow to the RSF. The town serves as an advanced defensive line for Obeid and holds economic significance for its large gum arabic and livestock markets.
At this stage of the Kordofan campaign, a former military officer told Mada Masr, the military's operational objective is to wear down RSF forces and selectively destroy strategic targets before reclaiming territory. Movements on the ground, they said, should be interpreted within that context.
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RSF strike shuts down Daman Hospital in Obeid
The RSF bombed the Daman Hospital in Obeid, capital of the North Kordofan State on Friday, killing and injuring several people and incapacitating the hospital.
The hospital administration announced that operations have been suspended until further notice due to the extensive structural damage caused by what it described as a strategic drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces. All staff have been placed on a two-week leave.
The Sudanese Doctors' Network said in a statement that six people were killed and 14 others injured in the attack, which they confirmed rendered the hospital non-operational. The Emergency Lawyers group, meanwhile, said 15 were injured, including patients, their companions and medical staff.
Having Daman Hospital out of service compounds an already dire healthcare situation in the city, the group said.
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Khartoum grapples with cholera surge amid collapse of health, basic services
Cholera cases in Khartoum State have surged dramatically, rising from 90 to 815 reported cases per day between May 15 and 25, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Since January, the state has recorded more than 7,700 cases and 185 deaths.
Federal Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, on the other hand, estimated on May 24 that cholera cases climbed to a weekly average of 600 to 700 new infections per week over the previous four weeks.
The outbreak comes as more than 34,000 people have returned to Khartoum State in 2025, UNICEF said, many of whom are coming back to homes damaged by fighting with little or no access to essential services, including clean water and sanitation. Around 26,500 children in the state's Jebel Awliya and Khartoum localities are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, leaving them especially vulnerable to cholera infections.
Attacks on power infrastructure have severely disrupted electricity and water supplies, forcing families to rely on unsafe water sources and worsening the spread of waterborne diseases, UNICEF added.
Just 10 percent of Khartoum's water pumping stations remain operational, while RSF drone strikes deliberately targeted many power facilities, Ibrahim said in a seminar organized by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, which Mada Masr attended. This forced many to rely on untreated Nile water, he added.
Nationwide, the disease has infected 23,736 people and claimed 672 lives since the start of the war, with the majority of cases concentrated in Khartoum, according to Ibrahim.
The capital's health sector is nearing total collapse. An estimated 90 percent of hospitals are now closed — either destroyed or lacking essential medical supplies, he said. The few facilities still functioning are severely overburdened by the recent spike of patients and face acute shortages of basic medicines, often having to resort to treating people in the hospital's corridors, waiting areas, or even on the streets outside, he said.
Omdurman, one of the cities that make up the capital, has particularly borne the brunt of the crisis since last week. At the Naw Hospital, volunteers told Mada Masr that 118 new infections and 24 deaths were recorded inside the isolation ward alone on Tuesday and Wednesday, while another 15 patients who had arrived in critical condition died shortly after. To cope with the numbers, the federal health ministry has transferred patients to other facilities, including Bashaer, Rajhi, Um Badda, Omdurman, and Mohamed al-Amin Hamed Children's Hospital, a volunteer said.
In Um Badda, west of Omdurman, an emergency room member told Mada Masr there is a spread of cholera and acute diarrhea, largely due to contaminated drinking water. The member reported 420 cholera cases and 72 deaths over just two days near Um Badda Hospital — a spike likely linked to the transfer of infected patients.
In eastern Khartoum, a member of the East Nile emergency room told Mada Masr that over 80 cholera cases, including five deaths, have been documented at the Ban Gadid Hospital in recent days, noting a wider outbreak spanning the Ban Gadid and Umdawanban hospitals.
The situation is further compounded by ongoing power outages, which are disabling vital medical equipment and spoiling life-saving medicines and vaccines that require refrigeration, Ibrahim said in the seminar. Medical staff across Khartoum continue to work in perilous conditions, often without security or adequate supplies.