In the heart of Sudan’s conflict-rich Darfur region, renewed clashes have erupted between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. This resurgence of violence comes despite global calls for peace and an end to hostilities.
Ahmed Hussein, a spokesperson for the armed movements in Darfur, stated that they repelled an RSF attack on El Fasher, inflicting significant losses in lives and property. “We forced the Rapid Support Forces to flee from a battle that lasted several hours,” Hussein declared in remarks to Al Arabiya/Al Hadath.
The RSF’s artillery bombardment reportedly left dozens of civilians dead or wounded. Residents in the northern and eastern parts of the city described fierce exchanges of heavy weaponry, with both sides engaging in intense artillery fire, according to the Arab World News Agency (AWP).
Local sources added that the RSF shelled army positions in the city center, while the army responded with artillery strikes on RSF locations around El Fasher.
The clashes in El Fasher followed an announcement by the El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination, which stated on Facebook that the army and its allied armed movements had clashed with the RSF in the eastern part of the city, leading to random shelling of civilian homes and resulting in numerous injuries, some of whom were taken to the hospital.
A tight siege is currently imposed by the RSF on El Fasher in an effort to gain control after securing four out of five states in the Darfur region. International and regional warnings against the potential invasion of the city are mounting, as it shelters millions of displaced persons who have fled other troubled cities in the region.
North Darfur’s acting governor, Hafez Bukheit, emphasized the state government’s commitment to “stand with all its resources for the nation and its citizens to repel the militias,” referring to the RSF.
Several armed movements, including the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Minawi, the Justice and Equality Movement headed by Jibril Ibrahim, and the Sudan Liberation Movement under Mustafa Tambur, have abandoned neutrality to fight alongside the army against the RSF.
For the past two days, telecommunications in El Fasher, as well as Ed Daein in East Darfur and Nyala in the south, have been disrupted, with major networks like Sudani and Zain, and the MTN Sudan network, which had been disconnected from the city for months, according to reports.
Since the conflict between the two major military forces in the country began in mid-April, fears of Darfur sliding into a full-blown civil and tribal war have escalated. The region, inhabited by several Arab and African tribes and known for its agricultural wealth, is roughly the size of France and bears the scars of a brutal civil war that lasted for years, claiming about 300,000 lives and displacing millions.
Despite numerous peace agreements, tensions have simmered like embers under the ashes, awaiting a spark to reignite them. The violence had indeed escalated intermittently over the past two years before subsiding, only to flare up again with the recent conflict between the army and the RSF.
