Sudan battles: fighting renews in Khartoum North, Omdurman activists attacked

15/12/2023 16:49 KHARTOUM

A unit of the Rapid Support Forces outside Khartoum (Photo: Social media)

Battles between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) renewed in Khartoum yesterday, with heavy clashes reported in several areas of Khartoum North. The El Gamayer Emergency Room in Omdurman was attacked and threatened multiple times by the RSF earlier this week.  

In western Khartoum, witnesses reported heavy artillery shelling by the RSF near the El Shajara military complex.

Fierce fighting also took place near the Signal Corps in Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri).

A SAF source told Radio Dabanga that El Kadaro and El Doroshab in Khartoum North “are now free of any RSF presence”, adding that water and electricity facilities were restored in both areas.

An RSF source, however, denied a SAF advance on Khartoum North, and said that heavy battles broke out near the Halfaya bridge and in El Kadaro on Wednesday. “The attacking SAF force lost the battle and endured heavy losses”, the source claimed.

RSF troops are reportedly “stealing anything they can lay their hands on” including property and cars from Khartoum residents, with some burying their cars as a precautionary measure.

Ransacked

The El Gamayer Emergency Room in old Omdurman reported in a statement yesterday that “the RSF attacked the emergency room premises on Monday, ransacked supplies, medicines, money, and phones, scattered documents, and detained volunteer El Mubasher El Jak until Tuesday morning.”

The emergency room was attacked again on Tuesday and Wednesday, “this time they vandalised windows and chairs, and threatened to detain members of the emergency room and cooperating locality members”.  

Violence

Sudan Emergency Lawyers member Rehab Mubarak deplored the deaths of 112 people due to aerial bombardment last week, “including more than 70 victims in the Kandahar and Libya market bombings in Omdurman”.

Speaking to Fadwa Khazraji of El Jareeda newspaper, the lawyer added that the December 10 attack on an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) convoy, which killed two people, “halted a mission to rescue 100 civilians”.

Reporting further violations by the RSF, Mubarak said that Emergency Lawyers founder Majdi Hasan was “shot in the leg by RSF members”. She lamented that the RSF occupied the Sudatel Data Centre last week and targeted various institutions, “including the Soba University Hospital and the Mycetoma Research Centre in Khartoum”.

“The continuous clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF has caused significant damage to the Jebel Aulia power station, leading a widespread power outage in Khartoum North and Sharg El Nil. Military aircraft bombings have also targeted crucial infrastructure, such as El Jeili refinery”, she added.