Sudan's paramilitary forces push into army's last Darfur stronghold

Sudanese paramilitary forces seized a key military base in the army's last stronghold in the embattled western Darfur region, activists and aid groups said Monday in a significant blow to the military in a war that has gripped Sudan since 2023.

Medical groups reported dozens of civilians killed and health infrastructure destroyed as fighting raged on between the two sides in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur. There were no definitive numbers on the casualties.

The city has been a focal point of the conflict for over a year now, with widespread devastation and displacement — a place where hundreds of thousands of people have become trapped.

The war started in April 2023 when simmering tension between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the northeastern African country.

El-Fasher was the Sudanese military's last stronghold in Darfur and its fall to the RSF could mark a dangerous point in the war and herald another split of the country more than a decade after the creation of South Sudan.

A flashpoint Darfur city

Footage circulating on social media since Sunday shows RSF fighters celebrating in and around the army base in el-Fasher. According to one video, the paramilitary's deputy commander, Abdulrahim Dagalo, calls on his fighters not to loot or target civilians.

Other footage shows RSF fighters shooting and beating people, as they attempt to flee the city. Many were seen detained. RSF fighters were also heard shouting "falangayat" at the detainees — a racist term used to refer to African tribes in Darfur as slaves.

The Sudanese military did not immediately confirm that the RSF had captured its base and headquarters in el-Fasher.

However, military officials confirmed that troops had vacated the base on Sunday and retreated to another defense line under heavy RSF shelling and artillery. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military moves.

Fighting continued Monday around the airfield of the base, as well as on the western side of the city, according to Resistance Committees in el-Fasher, a grassroots group tracking the war. The group said the Sudanese troops had no visible air support in el-Fasher to try and fend off the RSF attacks.

Daunting images

Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press showed the headquarters of the military's 6th Division with multiple buildings around the compound bearing damage to their roofs. One building looked particularly damaged.

The layout of the headquarters as seen in the satellite images corresponded to details seen in footage released by the RSF, showing their fighters gathering around one bullet-scarred building, heralding their capture of the city.

The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University, or HRL, also confirmed through satellite imagery that the paramilitaries advanced Sunday as far as the 6th Division headquarters, with "significant evidence of close-quarter battle in the area."

In a statement late Sunday, the HRL said it identified activities likely showing RSF taking prisoners in and around the airfield area.

Paramilitary forces rampage, attack civilians

The Sudan Doctor Network, a medical group tracking the war, described the RSF attack as a "heinous massacre" and said that dozens of people were killed.

In a statement Monday, the group said RSF fighters rampaged through parts of el-Fasher, looting hospitals and other medical facilities and "destroying what remained of essential life-supporting and health care infrastructure."

The Darfur Network for Human Rights said the RSF detained over 1,000 civilians, describing it as a "systematic targeting of civilians, arbitrary detentions and potential acts amounting to war crimes."

Among the detained was a local journalist, one of the few left in the city, according to the Sudanese Journalists Union.

The group warned about potential "mass violations" in el-Fasher similar to what happened in another Darfur city in 2023, when RSF fighters killed hundreds there and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Tom Fletcher, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, expressed "deep alarm" at reports of civilian casualties and forced displacement in el-Fasher.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified — shelled, starving, and without access to food, health care or safety," he said in a statement. He called for "safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access" to help the population that remained in el-Fasher.

Elsewhere, RSF fighters ran riot in the town of Bara in the central Kordofan region over the weekend, killing at least 47 people, including nine women, the Sudan Doctor Network said Monday.

Brutal toll

Before Sunday's attack, there were 260,000 civilians, half of them children, trapped inside el-Fasher, living in "desperate conditions," according to the U.N. children's agency.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 people were forced to flee their homes due to the latest fighting, moving to areas from where they could flee again toward other parts of North Darfur, "depending on security conditions and movement restrictions," the U.N. migration agency said.

El-Fasher was the military's last stronghold in Darfur but the paramilitary RSF has been assaulting it for over a year. The RSG grew out of the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias that brutalized the Sudanese during the Darfur conflict in 2000s.

The latest war has killed over 40,000 people and created the world's worst humanitarian crisis with part of the country plunged into famine. It has forced over 14 million people to flee their homes, with some crossing into neighboring countries.

It has been marked by gross atrocities including ethnically motivated killings and rape, according to the United Nations and rights groups. The International Criminal Court said it was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.