logo
RSF storms cattle market and prison in 'death trap' Sudanese city

RSF storms cattle market and prison in 'death trap' Sudanese city

Yahoo13-07-2025
The Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the besieged city of el-Fasher on Friday in a battle that raged for seven hours, witnesses told the BBC.
RSF fighters managed to capture a cattle market, a prison and a military base while broadcasting videos of their members walking around empty stockyards.
It was the first time RSF fighters had entered the city in large numbers since the siege of el-Fasher - an ongoing battle for control of the western Darfur city - began 15 months ago.
On Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond el-Fasher's limits. But Mathilde Vu, from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), described the city as a "death trap".
"What we're hearing is stories of horror and terror and weekly shelling, attacks on civilian infrastructure," Ms Vu told the BBC Newshour programme.
"There are local volunteers - they are really struggling, risking their lives every day to try and provide a little bit of food for people who are mostly starving."
Siddig Omar, a 65-year-old resident of el-Fasher, told the BBC the RSF entered the city on Friday from the south and south-west.
The RSF, whose fighters have been mustering in trenches dug around the city, frequently attack el-Fasher. According to the army, this was their 220th offensive.
But this time, during a battle that raged for seven hours, they managed to take control of the city's livestock market, which has been closed for business for several months.
From here, they broadcast videos of their fighters walking around empty stockyards. They also briefly held Shalla prison and the headquarters of the military's Central Reserve Forces.
On Saturday morning, the army retaliated and succeeded in pushing the RSF back beyond the city limits, saying it had inflicted "heavy losses" on the paramilitary group.
But Mr Omar said RSF shelling - using drones - continued throughout Saturday.
"One of the shells hit a civilian vehicle near my house resulting in the death of five civilians who were inside the car," he said.
Sudan plunged into a civil war in April 2023 after a vicious struggle for power broke out between its army and the RSF.
It has led to a famine and claims of a genocide in the western Darfur region.
More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
El-Fasher is the only city in Darfur now controlled by the military. But a communications blackout makes it difficult to confirm information from the besieged city, as only those with satellite internet connections are contactable.
Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening
Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign
BBC smuggles in phones to el-Fasher to reveal hunger and fear
The latest RSF offensive followed weeks of artillery and drone attacks. The group recently started using large drone aircraft.
The army accuses the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of funding the RSF, an allegation the oil-rich Gulf state denies.
This weekend's attack comes three months after the RSF overran Zamzam camp on the outskirts of el-Fasher. It had been the largest displacement camp in the country and many of its residents either escaped into el-Fashir or tried to make it to Tawila, 60km (about 40 miles) away.
Ms Vu, NRC's advocacy manager in Sudan, said the team in Tawila has continued to hear horrific stories as people desperately try to find safety.
"People fleeing at night by foot, on donkeys - trying to escape armed men targeting them, maybe raping them," she said.
"We're getting people arriving into Tawila who are thirsty, who haven't eaten for weeks."
Nearly 379,000 people have now fled to Tawila, where they are facing an outbreak of cholera and expected heavy rain is likely to destroy makeshift shelters.
This week, residents of el-Fasher told the BBC Arabic's emergency radio programme more about their dire situation.
"Right now, we are suffering deeply, and everyone around us is facing the same hardship," one man said.
"There is no bread, no food, and no work to be found. Even if you have money, there's nothing available in the markets to buy.
"When someone gets sick, we can't find any medicine or treatment.
"There are no medicines in hospitals. The situation here is truly terrible."
Another man said until recently, residents had been relying on something called "ombaz", a food waste left over after pressing oil from peanut shells.
"We are in a very critical situation," he said.
"Even ombaz is no longer available, as the peanut factories have stopped working.
"We are calling out for help - please, we urgently need assistance."
Ms Vu bemoaned the international community's apathy when it came to engaging with the warring parties and their backers.
"The funding is completely decreasing and the consequence is that you can see it on the ground," she said.
"People [in el-Fasher] just rely on the solidarity of others.
"If they have a little bit of food, they will be sharing it among themselves."
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in Darfur.
Allegations of war crimes have persisted throughout the past two years, and in January 2025 the US determined that the RSF and allied militias had committed a genocide against the region's non-Arab population.
'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'
Last surgeons standing in el-Fasher
A photographer's 11-day trek to flee war-torn Sudan
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Focus on Africa
This Is Africa
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army
Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army

KHARTOUM/PORT SUDAN (Reuters) -The Islamist movement toppled in Sudan's uprising in 2019 could support an extended period of army rule as it eyes a political comeback after deploying fighters in the country's war, according to some of its leading members. In his first media interview in years, Ahmed Haroun, chairman of the former ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and one of four Sudanese wanted by the International Criminal Court, told Reuters that he foresaw the army staying in politics after the war, and that elections could provide a route back to power for his party and the Islamist movement connected to it. More than two years of war between Sudan's army and the RSF has caused waves of ethnic killings, famine and massive displacement, drawing in foreign powers and creating what the United Nations has called the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. While the RSF remains entrenched in its western stronghold of Darfur and parts of the south and there is no sign of a stop to the fighting, the army has made major advances in recent months, gains that Islamist operatives say they helped bring about. Army leaders and former regime loyalists have played down their relationship, wary of the unpopularity of ousted ex-leader Omar al-Bashir and his NCP allies. But the army's recent advances have allowed the Islamist movement to entertain a return to a national role, according to accounts from seven of the movement's members and six military and government sources. The NCP is rooted in Sudan's Islamist movement, which was dominant in the early Bashir era during the 1990s when the country hosted Osama bin Laden, but has long abandoned hardline ideology in favour of amassing power and wealth. The movement's resurgence could cement the reversal of Sudan's pro-democracy uprising that began in late 2018, while complicating the country's ties with regional players suspicious of Islamist influence - including hardening a split with the powerful United Arab Emirates. In a sign of the trend, several Islamists and their allies have been appointed since last month to the cabinet of Kamil Idris, the technocratic new prime minister named in May by the army. In response to a request for comment from Reuters, a representative for Sudan's army leadership said, "some Islamist leaders may want to use the war to return to power, but we say categorically that the army does not ally or coordinate with any political party and does not allow any party to interfere." 'ARMY IN POLITICS' Haroun, speaking to Reuters late at night from a hideaway without electricity in northern Sudan, said the NCP foresaw a hybrid governing structure in which the army retained sovereign control "until all threats are removed", while elections brought in civilians to run the government. "We have taken a strategic decision to not return to power other than by the ballot box after the war," Haroun, a Bashir ally who escaped from prison at the start of the conflict, said in the interview in late April. "The Western model is not practical in Sudan," he said. "We must develop a model for the role of the army in politics given fragile security and foreign greed, as this won't be the first or last war in the country." A senior army officer suggested that a transitional period run exclusively by the army prior to elections "would not be brief." Haroun, wanted by the ICC for alleged involvement in war crimes and genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s -- charges he dismisses as political -- suggested a referendum to choose which army officer would lead the country. The revival of Islamist factions began before the outbreak of the war in April 2023, during a period when a transition towards civilian rule was veering off course. The factions had established deep roots in Sudan's ruling apparatus and in the army during Bashir's three decades in power. When army commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who became head of Sudan's ruling council shortly after Bashir's overthrow in 2019, staged a coup two years later, he drew on their support. The RSF participated in the coup but was suspicious of the Islamists, and as the RSF and the army moved to protect their interests ahead of another planned transition, tensions erupted into warfare. The RSF quickly seized most of the capital, Khartoum, and made other advances, before the army started to claw back ground, extending its control over eastern and central Sudan. FIGHTERS An NCP document shared with Reuters by a senior Islamist official points to a major role for Islamist networks since early on in the fighting. In the document, Islamist operatives lay out their activities to party leaders, taking credit for directly contributing between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters to the army's war effort over the first year of the conflict. They also take credit for training hundreds of thousands of ordinary civilians who answered an army call for public mobilisation, of whom more than 70,000 joined operations - a move that greatly bolstered the army's diminished ground forces, according to three military sources from the army or aligned with it. The military sources put estimates of fighters directly linked to the NCP at about 5,000, mainly serving in "special forces" units that have made some of the largest gains for the army, particularly in Khartoum. Other Islamist-trained combatants are serving in an elite, re-constituted unit belonging to the general intelligence service, according to Islamist fighters and military sources. Army sources and Haroun said Islamist factions held no power over the army. Haroun also said he doubted the veracity of the document seen by Reuters and claims of thousands of NCP-linked troops fighting alongside the army, without elaborating. But he acknowledged that it was "no secret that we support the army in response to the commander-in-chief's call, and to ensure our survival". Burhan has said repeatedly he would not allow the outlawed NCP back to power, whilst enabling the return of Islamist civil servants including to such high-level roles as foreign minister and minister of cabinet affairs. The RSF has played up the Islamist connection as the army has minimised it. "The Islamists are the ones who set off this war in order to return to power once again, and they are the ones managing this war," said Mohamed Mukhtar, an advisor to the RSF's leadership. Two military officers familiar with the issue said Burhan was balancing a desire not to cede influence to political figures with his need for military, bureaucratic, and financial support from the Islamist network. FOREIGN ALLIES The Sudanese Islamist movement has long given members military training, including in what was known under Bashir as the reservist Popular Defence Force (PDF). During the war, semi-independent Islamist units have emerged, most prominently the al-Baraa Ibn Malik brigade, named after an early Islamic figure. One of its leaders, 37-year-old engineer Owais Ghanim, told Reuters he had been wounded three times, participating in crucial battles to break the siege on army bases in the capital earlier this year. Under army orders, members of the brigade have access to light arms, artillery, and drones, he said. "We do not fight for the Islamists to return to power, we fight to push back the (RSF) aggression," said Ghanim. "After Islamists' participation in the war, I expect they will return via elections." Rights monitors have accused the brigade of extrajudicial killings in newly re-captured parts of Khartoum, accusations Ghanim denied. Army leaders have said the brigade and other groups will be integrated into the army after the war, to avoid a repeat of what happened with the RSF, which the armed forces developed to fight an insurgency in Darfur under Bashir. Military sources say that during the war, senior Islamist figures have also used long-standing ties with countries like Iran, Qatar, and Turkey to help the army secure weapons. Haroun said he could neither confirm nor deny this. Any further alignment with those countries, and the expanded influence of the Islamists within Sudan, could strain relations with the United States and further antagonise the UAE, which helped the army and RSF oust Bashir and has sought to roll back political Islam internationally. The army cut diplomatic ties with the UAE earlier this year, accusing it of being the RSF's biggest supporter, a charge the Gulf state denies. The Iranian, Turkish and Emirati foreign ministries and the Qatari international media office did not respond to requests for comment. (Additional reporting and writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army
Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army

Sudan's Islamists plot post-war comeback by supporting army KHARTOUM/PORT SUDAN (Reuters) -The Islamist movement toppled in Sudan's uprising in 2019 could support an extended period of army rule as it eyes a political comeback after deploying fighters in the country's war, according to some of its leading members. In his first media interview in years, Ahmed Haroun, chairman of the former ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and one of four Sudanese wanted by the International Criminal Court, told Reuters that he foresaw the army staying in politics after the war, and that elections could provide a route back to power for his party and the Islamist movement connected to it. More than two years of war between Sudan's army and the RSF has caused waves of ethnic killings, famine and massive displacement, drawing in foreign powers and creating what the United Nations has called the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. While the RSF remains entrenched in its western stronghold of Darfur and parts of the south and there is no sign of a stop to the fighting, the army has made major advances in recent months, gains that Islamist operatives say they helped bring about. Army leaders and former regime loyalists have played down their relationship, wary of the unpopularity of ousted ex-leader Omar al-Bashir and his NCP allies. But the army's recent advances have allowed the Islamist movement to entertain a return to a national role, according to accounts from seven of the movement's members and six military and government sources. The NCP is rooted in Sudan's Islamist movement, which was dominant in the early Bashir era during the 1990s when the country hosted Osama bin Laden, but has long abandoned hardline ideology in favour of amassing power and wealth. The movement's resurgence could cement the reversal of Sudan's pro-democracy uprising that began in late 2018, while complicating the country's ties with regional players suspicious of Islamist influence - including hardening a split with the powerful United Arab Emirates. In a sign of the trend, several Islamists and their allies have been appointed since last month to the cabinet of Kamil Idris, the technocratic new prime minister named in May by the army. In response to a request for comment from Reuters, a representative for Sudan's army leadership said, "some Islamist leaders may want to use the war to return to power, but we say categorically that the army does not ally or coordinate with any political party and does not allow any party to interfere." 'ARMY IN POLITICS' Haroun, speaking to Reuters late at night from a hideaway without electricity in northern Sudan, said the NCP foresaw a hybrid governing structure in which the army retained sovereign control "until all threats are removed", while elections brought in civilians to run the government. "We have taken a strategic decision to not return to power other than by the ballot box after the war," Haroun, a Bashir ally who escaped from prison at the start of the conflict, said in the interview in late April. "The Western model is not practical in Sudan," he said. "We must develop a model for the role of the army in politics given fragile security and foreign greed, as this won't be the first or last war in the country." A senior army officer suggested that a transitional period run exclusively by the army prior to elections "would not be brief." Haroun, wanted by the ICC for alleged involvement in war crimes and genocide in Darfur in the early 2000s -- charges he dismisses as political -- suggested a referendum to choose which army officer would lead the country. The revival of Islamist factions began before the outbreak of the war in April 2023, during a period when a transition towards civilian rule was veering off course. The factions had established deep roots in Sudan's ruling apparatus and in the army during Bashir's three decades in power. When army commander General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who became head of Sudan's ruling council shortly after Bashir's overthrow in 2019, staged a coup two years later, he drew on their support. The RSF participated in the coup but was suspicious of the Islamists, and as the RSF and the army moved to protect their interests ahead of another planned transition, tensions erupted into warfare. The RSF quickly seized most of the capital, Khartoum, and made other advances, before the army started to claw back ground, extending its control over eastern and central Sudan. FIGHTERS An NCP document shared with Reuters by a senior Islamist official points to a major role for Islamist networks since early on in the fighting. In the document, Islamist operatives lay out their activities to party leaders, taking credit for directly contributing between 2,000 and 3,000 fighters to the army's war effort over the first year of the conflict. They also take credit for training hundreds of thousands of ordinary civilians who answered an army call for public mobilisation, of whom more than 70,000 joined operations - a move that greatly bolstered the army's diminished ground forces, according to three military sources from the army or aligned with it. The military sources put estimates of fighters directly linked to the NCP at about 5,000, mainly serving in "special forces" units that have made some of the largest gains for the army, particularly in Khartoum. Other Islamist-trained combatants are serving in an elite, re-constituted unit belonging to the general intelligence service, according to Islamist fighters and military sources. Army sources and Haroun said Islamist factions held no power over the army. Haroun also said he doubted the veracity of the document seen by Reuters and claims of thousands of NCP-linked troops fighting alongside the army, without elaborating. But he acknowledged that it was "no secret that we support the army in response to the commander-in-chief's call, and to ensure our survival". Burhan has said repeatedly he would not allow the outlawed NCP back to power, whilst enabling the return of Islamist civil servants including to such high-level roles as foreign minister and minister of cabinet affairs. The RSF has played up the Islamist connection as the army has minimised it. "The Islamists are the ones who set off this war in order to return to power once again, and they are the ones managing this war," said Mohamed Mukhtar, an advisor to the RSF's leadership. Two military officers familiar with the issue said Burhan was balancing a desire not to cede influence to political figures with his need for military, bureaucratic, and financial support from the Islamist network. FOREIGN ALLIES The Sudanese Islamist movement has long given members military training, including in what was known under Bashir as the reservist Popular Defence Force (PDF). During the war, semi-independent Islamist units have emerged, most prominently the al-Baraa Ibn Malik brigade, named after an early Islamic figure. One of its leaders, 37-year-old engineer Owais Ghanim, told Reuters he had been wounded three times, participating in crucial battles to break the siege on army bases in the capital earlier this year. Under army orders, members of the brigade have access to light arms, artillery, and drones, he said. "We do not fight for the Islamists to return to power, we fight to push back the (RSF) aggression," said Ghanim. "After Islamists' participation in the war, I expect they will return via elections." Rights monitors have accused the brigade of extrajudicial killings in newly re-captured parts of Khartoum, accusations Ghanim denied. Army leaders have said the brigade and other groups will be integrated into the army after the war, to avoid a repeat of what happened with the RSF, which the armed forces developed to fight an insurgency in Darfur under Bashir. Military sources say that during the war, senior Islamist figures have also used long-standing ties with countries like Iran, Qatar, and Turkey to help the army secure weapons. Haroun said he could neither confirm nor deny this. Any further alignment with those countries, and the expanded influence of the Islamists within Sudan, could strain relations with the United States and further antagonise the UAE, which helped the army and RSF oust Bashir and has sought to roll back political Islam internationally. The army cut diplomatic ties with the UAE earlier this year, accusing it of being the RSF's biggest supporter, a charge the Gulf state denies. The Iranian, Turkish and Emirati foreign ministries and the Qatari international media office did not respond to requests for comment. (Additional reporting and writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

Sudan war losses by the numbers
Sudan war losses by the numbers

Associated Press

timea day ago

  • Associated Press

Sudan war losses by the numbers

CAIRO (AP) — More than two years have passed since Sudan plunged into a civil war that has caused what aid organizations have described as one of the world's worst displacement and hunger crises. The conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group continues largely in the vast Darfur and Kordofan regions. Some of the deadliest clashes have occurred in the capital, Khartoum, and surrounding areas, where the army has said it has regained control. The war erupted in April 2023 in Khartoum before spreading across the country. Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities like ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against civilians, including children. Meanwhile, many people across Sudan have been pushed to the brink of famine. Here's a look at the war by the numbers sourced from the United Nations, humanitarian organizations, health officials and human rights groups. ___ A collapsing health care system and damaged infrastructure created a breeding ground for diseases spreading in Sudan, affecting the health and well-being of millions, including already vulnerable communities. The North African country faces outbreaks of diseases including cholera, measles and malaria, and UNICEF warned that thousands of children younger than age 5 are likely to suffer from the deadliest form of malnutrition. ___ Aside from the human toll, Sudan's infrastructure has been badly hit. Once known as a country with agricultural wealth and the breadbasket of the world, Sudan saw the widescale ruin of farming land. Dozens of water and electricity facilities have been damaged, along with the presidential palace and ministry buildings. More than 10 cultural sites, including the National Museum, have been attacked or destroyed, according to UNESCO. Many schools have been attacked or turned into shelters. ___ Death and injury figures are often based on hospital records, but tracking those who never reach medical facilities is difficult. However, estimates by humanitarian organizations, health officials, and rights groups suggest that tens of thousands have been wounded in Sudan's war. Multiple attempts at peace talks have been made, but none seem to be bringing the war to an end as the conflict expands elsewhere in the country.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store