Clashes in various areas and detention of aid in western Sudan

Sudan – The Rapid Support Forces in Sudan reported yesterday, Saturday, that they had thwarted an infiltration by Sudanese army forces into the city of El Fasher, west of the country, while the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Rapid Support Forces had detained a number of humanitarian aid trucks there.

According to Rapid Support, the army was equipped with ammunition and fuel to supply its 6th Infantry Division in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. According to local sources, clashes took place between the two parties near the Mellit Gate, north of El Fasher.

In a related context, the ministry said that the Rapid Support Forces detained a number of humanitarian aid trucks from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that were on their way to the city of El Fasher.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry explained in a statement that the Rapid Support Forces mobilized fighters near the town of Melit to block the road to aid convoys and seize them.

On March 6, the Sudanese government agreed to use the Al-Tineh crossing from Chad to the city of El Fasher to enter humanitarian aid, in addition to using routes from Egypt and South Sudan.

The statement confirmed that what it described as the Rapid Support militia in Al-Jazeera State alone attacked 28 villages during the past two weeks, killed 43 civilians, looted their property and agricultural crops, and turned large numbers of the state’s population into displaced persons.

Also in the far south of Al-Jazira State, the Wad Madani Resistance Committees said that at least 16 civilians were killed in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces on villages west of the Sinnar region.

According to a statement by the Wad Madani Resistance Committees, a Rapid Support attack on the village of Wad Abu Amna resulted in 11 dead and 16 injured residents of the village, at a time when a similar attack on the village of Manasra led to the death of 5 people and the wounding of others. The statement indicated that another Rapid Support attack on the village of Basut caused the death of a number of citizens.

The Rapid Support Forces escalated their attacks on safe villages in Al-Jazeera State in the center of the country, and the states of North and South Kordofan (south), according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Sudanese Congress Party and the National Nation Party condemned “the violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces in Al-Jazeera State,” and the two parties demanded “the necessity of holding accountable those involved in the Al-Jazeera events and working to stop the violations immediately.”

North of Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s correspondent said that the army bombarded with heavy artillery from its base in northern Omdurman rapid support targets in the city of Bahri, north of Khartoum, at a time when the intensity of fighting had escalated in the past days.

For his part, a Sudanese army source said that an army force at the Kadru weapons camp, north of Bahri, set up an ambush for rapid support, and were able to destroy a fuel tanker and a number of four-wheel-drive combat vehicles.

According to military sources, a Rapid Support force attacked at dawn today, Saturday, an army force stationed in the Al-Awaj area of ​​the White Nile State (southeast). The sources revealed that the Rapid Support Forces were seeking to enter the city of Al-Duwaim, but an army force confronted them in the Al-Awaj area north of Al-Duwaim.

On May 11, 2023, talks sponsored by Saudi Arabia and the United States between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support resulted in the first agreement in Jeddah between the two sides to commit to protecting civilians, and the announcement of more than one truce during which violations and exchange of accusations occurred between the two parties to the conflict, which caused the negotiations to be suspended.

Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) have been fighting a war that has left regarding 14,000 dead and more than 8 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.