Sudan's Paramilitaries Seize a Key Area along with the Border with Libya and Egypt
Sudanese paramilitaries at war with the country's military for over two years claimed to have seized a strategic area along the border with neighboring Libya and Egypt.
The Rapid Support Forces said in a statement Wednesday that they captured the triangular zone, fortifying their presence along Sudan' s already volatile border with chaos-stricken Libya, The Associated Press said.
The RSF's announcement came hours after the military said it had evacuated the area as part of 'its defensive arrangements to repel aggression' by the paramilitaries.
On Tuesday the military accused the forces of powerful Libyan commander Khalifa Hafter of supporting the RSF's attack on the area, in a 'blatant aggression against Sudan, its land, and its people.'
Hafter's forces, which control eastern and southern Libya, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the Sudanese accusations were 'a blatant attempt to export the Sudanese internal crisis and create a virtual external enemy.'
The attack on the border area was the latest twist in Sudan's civil war which erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the Sudanese army and RSF exploded with street battles in the capital, Khartoum that quickly spread across the country.
The war has killed at least 24,000 people, though the number is likely far higher. It has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who crossed into neighboring countries. It created the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and parts of the country have been pushed into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.
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Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Driven to starvation, Sudanese people eat weeds and plants to survive as war rages
CAIRO: With Sudan in the grips of war and millions struggling to find enough to eat, many are turning to weeds and wild plants to quiet their pangs of hunger. They boil the plants in water with salt because, simply, there is nothing for the lifeline it offered, a 60-year-old retired school teacher penned a love poem about a plant called Khadija Koro. It was 'a balm for us that spread through the spaces of fear,' he wrote, and kept him and many others from starving.A.H, who spoke on the condition his full name not be used, because he feared retribution from the warring parties for speaking to the press, is one of 24.6 million people in Sudan facing acute food insecurity — nearly half the population, according to the I ntegrated Food Security Phase Classification. Aid workers say the war spiked market prices, limited aid delivery, and shrunk agricultural lands in a country that was once a breadbasket of the plunged into war in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary the Rapid Support Forces escalated to fighting in the capital Khartoum and spread across the country, killing over 20,000 people, displacing nearly 13 million people, and pushing many to the brink of famine in what aid workers deemed the world's largest hunger insecurity is especially bad in areas in the Kordofan region, the Nuba Mountains, and Darfur, where El Fasher and Zamzam camp are inaccessible to the Norwegian Refugee Council, said Mathilde Vu, an aid worker with the group based in Port Sudan. Some people survive on just one meal a day, which is mainly millet porridge. In North Darfur, some people even sucked on coal to ease their Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the Sudanese military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and asked him for a week-long ceasefire in El Fasher to allow aid delivery. Burhan agreed to that request, according to an army statement, but it's unknown whether the RSF would agree to that truce.A.H. said aid distribution often provided slight relief. His wife in children live in Obeid and also struggle to secure enough food due to high prices in the poem continued: 'You were a world that sends love into the barren time. You were a woman woven from threads of the sun. You were the sandalwood and the jasmine and a revelation of green, glowing and longing.'Fighting restricted travel, worsening food insecuritySudanese agricultural minister Abu Bakr Al-Bashari told Al-Hadath news channel in April that there are no indicators of famine in the country, but there is shortage of food supplies in areas controlled by the paramilitary forces, known as Leni Kinzli, World Food Programme Sudan spokesperson, said 17 areas in Gezeira, most of the Darfur region, and Khartoum, including Jebel Aulia are at risk of famine. Each month, over 4 million people receive assistance from the group, including 1.7 million in areas facing famine or at risk, Kinzli state is suffering from two conflicts: one between the Rapid Support Forces and the army, and another with the People's Liberation Movement-North, who are fighting against the army and have ties with the RSF, making it nearly impossible to access food, clean water, or can't travel to Obeid in North Kordofan to be with his family, as the Rapid Support Forces blocked roads. Violence and looting have made travel unsafe, forcing residents to stay in their neighborhoods, limiting their access to food, aid workers said.A.H. is supposed to get a retirement pension from the government, but the process is slow, so he doesn't have a steady income. He can only transfer around $35 weekly to his family out of temporary training jobs, which he says is not another South Kordofan resident in Kadugli said that the state has turned into a 'large prison for innocent citizens' due to the lack of food, water, shelter, income, and primary health services caused by the RSF and grassroots organizations in the area where he lives were banned by the local government, according to Hassan, who asked to be identified only by his first name in fear of retribution for speaking publicly while being based in an area often engulfed with residents ate the plants out of desperation.'You would groan to give life an antidote when darkness appeared to us through the window of fear.,' A.H. wrote in his poem. 'You were the light, and when our tears filled up our in the eyes, you were the affordabilityVu warned that food affordability is another ongoing challenge as prices rise in the markets. A physical cash shortage prompted the Norwegian Refugee Council to replace cash assistance with vouchers. Meanwhile, authorities monopolize some markets and essential foods such as corn, wheat flour, sugar and salt are only sold through security approvals, according to in southwest Sudan, residents of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, rely on growing crops, but agricultural lands are shrinking due to fighting and lack of farming Hussein, a woman who has been displaced in El Serif camp since 2004, told the AP that they benefit from the rainy season but they're lacking essential farming resources such as seeds and tractors to grow beans, peanuts, sesame, wheat, and weika — dried powdered a grandmother living with eight family members, said her family receives a food parcel every two months, containing lentils, salt, oil, and biscuits. Sometimes she buys items from the market with the help of community leaders.'There are many families in the camp, mine alone has five children, and so aid is not enough for everyone … you also can't eat while your neighbor is hungry and in need,' she Serif camp is sheltering nearly 49,000 displaced people, the camp's civic leader Abdalrahman Idris told the AP. Since the war began in 2023, the camp has taken in over 5,000 new arrivals, with a recent surge coming from the greater Khartoum region, which is the Sudanese military said it took full control of in May.'The food that reaches the camp makes up only 5 percent of the total need. Some people need jobs and income. People now only eat two meals, and some people can't feed their children,' he North Darfur, south of El Fasher, lies Zamzam camp, one of the worst areas struck by famine and recent escalating violence. An aid worker with the Emergency Response Rooms previously based in the camp who asked not to be identified in fear of retribution for speaking with the press, told the AP that the recent wave of violence killed some and left others anyone was able to afford food from the market as a pound of sugar costs 20,000 Sudanese pounds ($33) and a soap bar 10,000 Sudanese pounds ($17).The recent attacks in Zamzam worsened the humanitarian situation and he had to flee to a safer area. Some elderly men, pregnant women, and children have died of starvation and the lack of medical treatment, according to an aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he's fearful of retribution for speaking publicly while living in an area controlled by one of the warring parties. He didn't provide the exact number of those said the situation in Zamzam camp is dire— 'as if people were on death row.'Yet A.H. finished his poem with hope:'When people clashed and death filled the city squares' A.H. wrote 'you, Koro, were a symbol of life and a title of loyalty.'
Leaders
4 hours ago
- Leaders
Sudan's SAF Accepts UN Humanitarian Ceasefire Proposal in El-Fasher
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Asharq Al-Awsat
6 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
US Sanctions on Sudan Over Alleged Chemical Weapons Use Take Effect
Friday marked the start of sweeping US sanctions imposed on Sudan, following accusations that the Sudanese army deployed chemical weapons during its conflict against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The US State Department announced it had obtained credible evidence confirming the Sudanese government's use of lethal chemical and biological weapons against civilians, an act it described as a flagrant violation of international law. Under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act, the sanctions immediately suspend nearly all US assistance to Sudan, excluding only emergency humanitarian aid. The measures include an outright ban on defense-related sales and financing, the denial of access to any US government funding - including loans or credits from the Export-Import Bank - and restrictions on the export of sensitive goods and technologies tied to national security. While humanitarian aid remains exempt, each case will undergo individual review. The sanctions also carve out exceptions for exports to civilian airlines and US businesses operating in Sudan. Officials indicated the measures would remain in place for at least a year, subject to renewal. Last month, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce revealed that Washington had concluded Sudanese forces used chemical weapons earlier in 2024 and had formally notified Congress before enacting the penalties. Sudanese authorities have so far issued no official response, though the Ministry of Information previously rejected the allegations as 'baseless political blackmail,' claiming that US interventions 'lack moral and legal foundation' and have eroded Washington's credibility in Sudan. Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal war between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as 'Hemedti.' The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 13 million people, according to UN estimates. In recent weeks, RSF units have subjected the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to relentless artillery and drone attacks targeting army positions, resulting in heavy civilian casualties. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to Sudan's leadership to agree to a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid deliveries to besieged areas. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has warned that the conflict is driving Sudan toward a humanitarian catastrophe. Fighting in Darfur and Kordofan has intensified, with all sides vying to secure territorial gains. Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for African Affairs, briefed the Council, citing a surge in extrajudicial killings, sexual violence against women, child recruitment, and attacks on humanitarian workers. She urged the Council to press for an immediate humanitarian truce in El Fasher to protect civilians and facilitate aid, while calling on the UN envoy to Sudan to use diplomatic leverage to de-escalate the crisis. Diplomats from the UK, Russia, South Korea, and Greece also sounded alarms over the deteriorating humanitarian situation, noting that Sudan now faces the largest displacement crisis in Africa's recent history. Sudan's UN representative defended government efforts to secure humanitarian corridors and support voluntary returns, stating that 350,000 families have already gone back to their homes in ten states.
