Sudanese paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, whose Rapid Support Forces have been accused of genocide, told his fighters on Monday to “free” themselves in a war with the army.
A day after losing a major highway between the capital Khartoum and El Obeid, the largest city in the Kordofan region, Daglo’s parallel government released a video message in which he “unleashed” the reins of “frontline fighters.”
The United Nations has been warning for weeks that Médecins Sans Frontières militants could commit mass atrocities in the Kordofan region as they sought to surround El Obeid, the region’s largest city, ahead of an apparent large-scale attack.
Aid workers estimate that Daglo’s war with his former ally, Army Chief of Staff Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has killed more than 200,000 people since April 2023 and created the world’s worst crisis of hunger and displacement.
His forces committed atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, systemic violence and summary executions, according to survivor testimonies and United Nations reports.
“From this day on, I no longer hold the reins, I hand them over to you,” Daglo said in a speech to his warriors.
Médecins Sans Frontières grew out of the Janjaweed militia, which committed mass atrocities in the restive Darfur region in the early 2000s and last year consolidated control of Darfur in an attack the United Nations said bore “the hallmarks of genocide.”
They have since tried to seize the neighboring Kordofan region, but both sides have been locked in an apparent stalemate with the army for months, with both sides launching deadly drone attacks that have killed more than 1,000 civilians this year.
Sudanese troops on Sunday succeeded in pushing SSF troops westward off the 400-kilometer highway linking Khartoum to El Obeid, two military sources told AFP on Monday on condition of anonymity, after days of advances in North Kordofan state.
For months, both sides had tried to cut off the other’s supply lines around El Obeid, a key crossroads.
Its north-south highway runs from Khartoum through Kordofan to the southern border, while its east-west axis connects SSF strongholds in Darfur with army-controlled central and eastern Sudan.
-hope for relief-
Video released by the military on Monday showed Army Chief of Staff Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visiting Jabrat al-Sheikh, one of Médecins Sans Frontières’ last strongholds along the road.
He is flanked by two of the most important militia leaders in the current alliance, whose fighters have helped ensure progress: Darfur governor and Joint Force Commander Minni Minawi and Sudanese Shield Force commander Abu Akra al-Kekal.
In the city of El Obeid, where the United Nations says hundreds of thousands of people are in need of aid, a relieved Obeid native, Sabourin Mohammed, told AFP that “the opening of the highway means goods can move.”
The road to Khartoum remains closed to civilians, who for much of the war relied entirely on the eastern road to the White Nile, where Médecins Sans Frontières often launched deadly drone attacks.
There were also reports of drone strikes in the city at dawn, which local officials blamed on Doctors Without Borders.
AFP reporters saw that the local bar association and a Sudan Agricultural Bank branch were in ruins, but there were no reports of casualties.
Mohammed dismissed the attacks as a “death struggle.”
“We are used to it that every time the army advances, they retaliate against North Kordofan,” she said.
Although both sides have reportedly committed war crimes, including indiscriminate bombings, the military is generally favored by civilians in areas hit by SSF violence.
El Obeid, a city of about 500,000 people that the United Nations says has doubled in size due to displacement, has been caught in the crossfire since the war began.
From April 2023 to the army’s breakthrough in February last year, it was under siege by paramilitary forces.
Since then, MSF attacks on critical infrastructure such as roads, communities and power plants have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations saying only a small part of the city has reliable access to food.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
