Sudan's military stave off an attack by a paramilitary group and Arab militias

DARFUR, Sudan - The Sudan Armed Forces with allies managed to effectively foil an attack waged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the latest tussle to control the country, which has been struggling with insecurity for five years, since the ouster of Omar al-Bashir.

According to officials, the attack was planned in Western Darfur, a province where the RSF first fought, causing mayhem in the country before being technically absorbed into government by Omar al-Bashir.

The attack Friday was the latest by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering, many of them having fled fighting elsewhere in Darfur, AP reports.

For the past few months, RSF soldiers have regrouped in a bid to take over el-Fasher, a town that has been under the control of the national army in the Darfur region. Both RSF and SAF have been fighting since 2023 for control of the government.

The conflict wrecked the country and pushed its population to the brink of famine. It killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more amid reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities that rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

RSF has been accused by Human Rights Watch of spearheading ethnic cleansing in Darfur, targeting the non-Arab population within the vicinity. Amany Mohamed, the area resident, said the Sudan army managed to repel the attack on Friday.

“Yesterday was a very difficult day,” she said over the phone on Saturday. “There were fierce clashes that lasted for six hours.”

Another resident and an activist, Ibtisam al-Doum, fled with her family to a school-turned-shelter on the southern side of the city during heavy fighting Friday. She said she saw hundreds of people escaping on foot to safer areas, AP adds.

“The situation is catastrophic. We don’t know when this will end,” she said, speaking from the Jiser al-Jinan shelter. “What’s happening is senseless.”

Many RSF fighters were captured during the encounter and a video has surfaced on social media showing them paraded by the army after their failed mission in Western Darfur.

“Reports of intensifying clashes in the city are deeply alarming,” Martin Griffiths, the United Nations relief chief, wrote on X and called for warning parties to de-escalate. “The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting,” he said.

The RSF and allied Arab militias have launched a series of attacks on el-Fasher and its surroundings in recent weeks, taking several villages on the northern side.

Such attacks “resulted in horrific reports of violence, including sexual violence, children injured and killed, homes set on fire and destruction of critical civilian supplies and infrastructure,” Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said earlier this month.

“The fighting and growing fear of ethnically motivated violence has driven many families to overcrowded displacement camps such as Zamzam camp and informal gathering sites in and around el-Fasher city,” she said.

GAROWE ONLINE