The Sudanese army finds itself in difficulty on several fronts on Monday, June 26: in Khartoum, the paramilitaries have stolen the police headquarters and its arsenal, and in the south of the country which borders Ethiopia, a rebel group is opening a new forehead against her.
Sunday evening, after two and a half months of war against the army, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo said “Hemetti” announced in a press release a ” victory in the battle for Police HQ”. And on Monday morning, residents of Kurmuk, on the border with Ethiopia, told AFP that a rebel group launched an attack against the army. The UN mission in Sudan called the violence “very worrying” and reported “the flight of hundreds of civilians to Ethiopia”.
This same group had already opened a new front on Thursday in South Kordofan, bordering South Sudan, forcing the army to respond on different fronts, all in the south of the country. However, deciphers for AFP a former army officer on condition of anonymity, the capture of the police headquarters – on the southern edge of the capital – radically changes the situation. “We have full control of this HQ (…) and we have seized a large number of vehicles, weapons and ammunition,” the FSR claim, listing the seizure of dozens of pick-ups, armored vehicles and tanks. “This is not a military victory (…) but a blatant attack on state institutions that protect civilians,” the army replied.
In the heart of residential neighborhoods
The capture of the police HQ, if not reversed, “will have a significant impact on the battle for Khartoum”, assures the officer because it “guarantees control of the southern entrance to the capital” to the RSF. On Monday, “civilians were injured when their bus was hit by an RSF drone attack targeting an army checkpoint,” residents of the police headquarters area told AFP.
The presence of the paramilitaries in this area also constitutes “a serious threat to the HQ of the mechanized armored corps”, one of the great assets of the army in the south of Khartoum, continues the former officer. Sunday, “fourteen civilians, including two children were killed” near the police headquarters, according to a network of activists who are trying to organize rescue and evacuations to the few hospitals still in operation in the area.
In addition, “217 wounded arrived, including 72 in critical condition and 147 were operated on”, affected by “stray bullets, air raids or rocket fire” in the heart of residential neighborhoods, continues this committee of activists. The videos broadcast by the FSR show their men seizing large stocks of arms and ammunition, the assurance of being able to continue the war of attrition launched on April 15 for a long time. According to an army source, the FRS lost “more than 400 men” in the capture of this headquarters.
Two-thirds of health facilities out of service
The NGO Acled lists more than 2,800 dead in the war in Sudan, a largely underestimated figure because none of the belligerents has made their losses public and many bodies still litter the streets of Khartoum or Darfur (west), where the clashes are the most violent.
Since the beginning of the war, two thirds of health establishments have been out of service. Those that have remained open have to deal with supplies of medicines that are almost dry, long water and electricity cuts and caregivers who have fled or been swept away by the war.
Fighting also continues in Nyala, capital of South Darfur, where at least 12 civilians were killed on Sunday, according to a doctor. During the night, residents of Nyala reported intense artillery fire. “Rockets are falling on houses of civilians,” one of them told AFP.
Every day, new displaced people flee the fighting, but also the sexual violence and looting that have become legion. In all, more than 2.5 million people have left their homes and more than half a million have crossed borders, mainly to Egypt in the north and Chad in the west, according to the UN.
