Sudan's army breaks paramilitary siege of strategic city in latest advance
Sudan's military says it has broken an almost two-year siege by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the strategic city of el-Obeid, in a major boost for the army in the country's civil war.
The Sudanese army said late on Sunday that it had also taken back control of the town of el-Gitaina, located just south of the capital, which was the RSF's last stronghold in the White Nile province. The RSF has not publicly commented on the military's claims.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the army and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the nation. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and at least 12 million displaced, and a humanitarian crisis is worsening.
A military spokesman, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, said in a statement that the army had managed to reopen the road to the commercial and transportation hub of el-Obeid — which is the provincial capital of North Kordofan province — and destroy RSF units.
Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim hailed the military's advances in el-Obeid as a "massive step" to lift the RSF siege on el-Fasher — the capital of North Darfur province — as well as delivering humanitarian aid to the Kordofan area.
The RSF has suffered a series of setbacks since September when the military launched an offensive aiming at recapturing the Great Khartoum area — Khartoum and its two sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, or Bahri.
In recent weeks, the army has captured strategic areas, including its own main headquarters and is close to recapturing the Republican Palace, which RSF fighters stormed in the first hours of the war.
Elsewhere in the country, the military has also regained control of the city of Wad Medani — the capital of Gezira province — as well as the country's largest oil refinery.
The developments on the ground have given the military the upper hand in the war, which is approaching its two-year mark with no realistic prospects for peace in sight.
Mass rape and ethnically motivated killings
The conflict has been marked by atrocities committed by both the army and the RSF, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the UN and international human rights groups.
The respective leaders of the army and the RSF — General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is better known as Hemedti — have been sanctioned by the US over the abuses. Washington has also accused the RSF of committing genocide.
Both the military and the RSF have strongly denied the accusations.
The Sudanese army's advances on Sunday came hours after the RSF signed a political charter that paved the way for establishing a parallel government to challenge the military-backed administration.
This proposed government is unlikely to gain much recognition but has further raised concerns about the splintering of the war-torn nation.
The military currently controls the north and the east of Sudan, while the RSF and its allied militias hold most of the Darfur region in the west as well as areas in the south.
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