Sudan – The Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces exchanged shelling on sites east and south of Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, while reports conflicted about the Rapid Support Forces’ control of Singa, the capital of Sennar State.
A senior source in the Sudanese army said that the army forces are still in the city of Singa, and are fighting fiercely to expel what he called the Rapid Support Militia that infiltrated some parts of the city, according to the source.
The spokesman for the Rapid Support Forces, Al-Fateh Qarashi, said that the support forces had taken complete control of the city of Singa and the headquarters of the 17th Division of the Sudanese army.
In the statement, Qurashi stated that the Rapid Support Forces also seized 112 vehicles with all their equipment, and 6 tanks.
Meanwhile, the emergency room at Abu Shouk camp for Darfur IDPs reported that 3 IDPs were killed and 18 injured in artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces on the camp located north of El Fasher.
The camp’s emergency room reported that a number of houses were destroyed by the bombing.
In a parallel context, the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, inspected the army’s front lines in the combat positions facing the Rapid Support Forces in the Al-Faw area in Gedaref State.
The Sovereignty Council stated that Al-Burhan received a detailed statement regarding the military operations and the army’s readiness to repel any attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the city of Sennar, the state capital.
Humanitarianally, the Sennar Observatory for Human Rights (a volunteer group) said that the Rapid Support Forces are detaining dozens of civilian patients and medical staff as human shields inside Singa Teaching Hospital and preventing them from leaving.
The Observatory confirmed in a report that the Rapid Support Forces are using the hospital as a military center, in a clear violation of international humanitarian law and a full-fledged war crime, according to the report.
The Sennar Observatory for Human Rights held the Rapid Support Forces responsible for the safety of all civilians detained inside the Singa City Hospital.
The Observatory also indicated the displacement of thousands of citizens to the south and southwest of the state, after a state of panic, tension and fear struck the city of Singa, with reports confirming that the Rapid Support Forces subjected the fugitives to pulling some families out of vehicles and looting them, and looting mobile phones and money.
Since April 15 of last year, Sudan has been witnessing a bloody war between the regular armed forces led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), followed by a deep humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations said that nearly 26 million people in Sudan are facing high levels of “acute food insecurity.”
Source: Al Jazeera + Agencies
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2024-07-04 14:44:09