File image.
More than a month after the massacre in el-Fasher, which reportedly claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people, the power struggle in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is still ongoing and efforts by the United States to resolve the conflict appears to be failing.
After being widely blamed for the massacre in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, the RSF launched an investigation into the killings and arrested some of the perpetrators. Despite these measures, violence attributed to the paramilitary group has not gone down.
A gruesome video showing a child whipping a man who appeared to be in a state of distress surfaced online on November 22. The child was reportedly forced to do this by an RSF member, allegedly his own father. The video was apparently taken somewhere in North Darfur.
Just a few days before the footage appeared U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would work to help end the war in Sudan after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman asked him to get involved in the matter.
“We’ve already started working on that,” Trump said at a Saudi investment conference on November 19, a day after he met with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler at the White House.
Battles raged after Trump’s remarks, however, specifically in North and West Kordofan, with reports indicating that the SAF made some gains in both states.
Heavy clashes took place in the strategic Um Samima area, which is 50 kilometers west of the provincial capital, El-Obeid, and links North Kordofan and West Kordofan states, the Anadolu Agency reported on November 22.
Military sources told the Turkish state-run news agency that the SAF advanced in North Kordofan, as they carried out attacks with heavy and light weapons against the rebel forces in Um Samima. The sources added that the army and allied forces also advanced along the axis west of al-Khuwayyi in the West Kordofan state, around 100 kilometers away from el-Obeid.
Prior to this report, the SAF itself announced significant progress by its forces in fighting fronts in both North and West Kordofan.
Meanwhile, the RSF also reported gains in the Jabal Abu Sunun, Jabal Issa, and Al-Ayyara areas, which are located in North Kordofan.
The frontline between the two warring sides remains unclear, but it is known that the RSF currently controls all five states of the Darfur region in western Sudan, while the SAF holds most of the remaining 13 states in the south, north, east, and center, including the capital, Khartoum.
Amid the battles in the Kordofan states, Trump’s envoy Massad Boulos revealed that neither side has accepted a truce plan proposed by the U.S.
Boulos said that while there were no objections to the content of the U.S.-proposed plan, the SAF had come back with “preconditions” he described as impossible to achieve.
On November 24, RSF unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities in line with U.S. wishes. But the SAF said it had repelled an attack on a base in Babanusa in West Kordofan.
“We have presented a strong text for a truce, but neither the SAF nor RSF have formally accepted the text we put forward,” Boulos, Trump’s adviser for African and Arab affairs, said on November 25, indicating that the latest plan built on the September proposal.
The SAF had reservations over the participation of the United Arab Emirates in the process. The UAE has been widely accused of arming the RSF.
Boulos, speaking at a press conference with Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said Burhan’s criticisms were based on incorrect information. Gargash also said Sudan’s future could not be dictated by the Muslim Brotherhood or related groups, a reference to Islamist influence in the SAF.
Following Boulos’ statements, Sudan’s Security and Defense Council, chaired by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, asked “competent authorities” to respond, which signaled a shift.
The U.S. truce plan could soon see some progress in coming weeks, but a deal appears to be very unlikely. The power struggle between the SAF and RSF will likely continue, and with it more violence against civilians and a general deterioration of the humanitarian situation all over Sudan.
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just like isis, rsf are a product of mossad.
no they arent . mossad are a product of mi5 and mi 6 one could just as easily allege .because ,guess what ? king charles is king of israel . for the ten millionth time .
let fighting dogs go they get tired after a while and make up .
nobody complains about genocide?
they basically fight like 100 years ago, but swapped the horses for cars. the benefit being that more people and guns fit to a car. village raiders of the lost because.