‘18 RSF militia killed’ in attacks on Darfur’s Jebel Marra

The Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdelwahid El Nur leadership (SLM-AW) has announced the alleged killing of 18 members of the government Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in an attack led by government forces in the area of Feina in south-eastern Jebel Marra in Darfur on Saturday.

Abdelgader Gadoura, commander-in-chief of the SLM-AW, reported that “the attack was carried out by 400 troops backed up by 18 armoured vehicles with long-range bombers.”

According to Gadoura, although the SLM-AW has declared a ceasefire, the regime has continued to breach the agreement. He said that SLM-AW fighters responded to the attack, confirming that they are sure that 18 RSF militiamen were killed and 18 others wounded.

The announcement added that more than 40 people had been taken to Kass and Nyala hospitals. An unarmed civilian was allegedly wounded in the leg during the attack and taken to hospital in the liberated territories.

Fighting elsewhere

Fighting also erupted between the SLM-AW forces and RSF troops in southern Jebel Marra on Saturday, near the villages of Sina, Karo, and Sobun El Fagur. This resulted in the death of one civilian while two others were injured.

According to residents, 37-year-old Mohamed Yahya was shot dead, and Adam Shogar and Kalsoum Ibrahim sustained bullet wounds while fleeing Sina village during the clashes between the two sides.

They added that this fighting forced residents to flee from their homes to the valleys and the mountain caves.

There has been no official reaction from the Sudanese armed forces or the official spokesman about what is really happening in Jebel Marra.

Peace negotiations

SLM-AW founder and leader Abdelwahid El Nur has refused to join peace negotiations until Khartoum has restored stability and security in Darfur.

The holdout leader El Nur, whose faction resolutely refuses to enter into talks or negotiations with the Khartoum government, reaffirmed that “the movement [SLM-AW] is continuing its struggle against the National Congress government in its steadfast positions of disarming the government’s militias, demanding compensation individually and collectively for the victims, and addressing the roots of the Sudanese crisis with equal citizenship, separation of religion and state, liberalism, and rule of law. All this must be done before talking about peace.”

At the beginning of November, the commander of the RSF, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan (also known as Hemeti), vowed to eliminate the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel Wahid Nur in Jebel Marra within three months.