The Al Nuzha Resistance Committee reported yesterday, June 2, that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “completely invaded” the neighborhood, which is in south-central Khartoum: “Houses were looted and completely occupied. Snipers were deployed on the rooftops of buildings in the neighborhood.” The neighborhood is only slightly east of the Armored Corps in Gabra.
Residents also reported RSF invading homes in Al Mogran as the militia consolidated control of northwest Khartoum on May 30-31, including the eastern side of Al Fatehab Bridge, the Central Bank, GNPC Tower, and Arabic Market. A recent video showed citizens fleeing with their belongings across Al Fatehab Bridge. These developments follow the defeat of a Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) joint force at Strategia base on the evening of May 30, which I documented with geolocated videos in a separate twitter thread. The base was at the northern end of a corridor of SAF control in west Khartoum.
The ceasefire has effectively completely collapsed following the RSF attack, which triggered SAF to suspend its involvement in the Jeddah talks. Although the ceasefire was never fully respected, it had helped to tamp down violence slightly.
Note that in the aftermath of the attack on Strategic, pro-SAF media have shared videos showing army troops at the base, attempting to refute RSF’s claim of control. Close analysis of these videos demonstrates that they predate the RSF attack. The videos of the RSF attack show some burning areas, but the SAF videos show no burn marks (credit to @haythamhamid for noticing this). Also, on one SAF video, a soldier mentions the time of day but the video cuts out before he mentions the date. In other cases, the same videos were uploaded elsewhere more than a week ago.
The army has not officially denied that it lost control of the base. RSF’s capture of northwest Khartoum has freed up some of its forces. That could be why new neighborhoods are being occupied in southern Khartoum near the Armored Corps.
Shelling and clashes have also occurred in a wide area about 10 km farther south known as the southern belt. This area suffered shelling on May 31 that killed 18 people and wounded more than 100, according to medical sources. National and international media gave conflicting reports about the cause of these casualties, blaming either tanks, artillery, or airplanes. The shells fell in a wide area, including Yarmuk, Souq Sitta Al Gadeem, Al Andalus Al Harat (8, 9, 12), and Al Azhari (5,14), according to the Southern Emergency Room, a community organization.
Bashaer Hospital has been receiving dozens of gunshot and shrapnel cases for over a week, and fighting picked up yesterday, June 2. The Southern Belt Resistance Committees reported, “The region of the Southern Belt woke up this morning to the sounds of shells, explosives and heavy gunfire.” There were 26 injuries and 5 dead, in addition to the earlier reported wounded. The injured came from Al Azhari (11, 13, 22), Mayo Dar Al Naim, Mayo Abdalrahman, Mayo Al Yarmouk, Mayo Angolo, and City of Hope.
There were also reports of fighting in Omdurman and Bahri, but I have not monitored any information about these events, so I will not comment on them.