Renewed clashes have erupted between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces today (Sunday) in the northern and western parts of Sennar State, southeast of the country. According to the Arab World News Agency, eyewitnesses confirmed that the battles between the two sides continued for the second consecutive day around the Sennar Sugar Factory, west of the city. Witnesses also noted that military aircraft belonging to the army launched strikes on movements of the Rapid Support Forces in the Sennar Sugar areas.
The advance of the Rapid Support Forces into Sennar State comes five days after taking control of the central state of Al Jazirah, following the army’s withdrawal from it.
In Khartoum, the army and the Rapid Support Forces exchanged artillery shelling at several locations in Khartoum and Bahri. Sudanese sources mentioned that the army carried out artillery strikes on Rapid Support Forces positions in neighborhoods surrounding the Armored Corps south of Khartoum. Witnesses reported that the Rapid Support Forces responded from their positions in the eastern neighborhoods of Khartoum with artillery strikes towards the army’s general command east of the city and the Signal Corps in Bahri, Khartoum.
The intensity of ground battles in the three capital cities has decreased, with both sides increasingly relying on artillery and air strikes.
The situation in Sudan has been escalating recently, with significant conflict affecting various regions of the country. The latest surge in fighting has led to the displacement of up to 300,000 people as the conflict spread to Wad Madani, the country’s second-largest city and the capital of Al Jazirah state. Wad Madani, known as Sudan’s breadbasket, is located about 140 kilometers southeast of the war-torn capital Khartoum. Since the outbreak of war in April between the Sudanese Army and a rival military group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), nearly half a million people have fled to Al Jazirah state.
In Wad Madani, heavy fighting has been reported, forcing thousands of displaced people to flee. Paramilitary forces established a base in the east of the city, prompting the exodus of people who had already been displaced by violence in other regions. As the RSF attack opened a new front in the eight-month-old war, crowds of people were seen packing up belongings and leaving on foot. The Sudanese Army, which had held the city since the start of the conflict, launched air strikes on RSF forces, and in response, the RSF carried out artillery strikes and sent in reinforcements.
