Destruction continues amid uncertainty over ceasefire talks
Updates on the military and political situation in Sudan
Sudan has witnessed only limited ground fighting in recent days but artillery and aerial attacks continue to kill civilians and damage infrastructure amid uncertainty over a new American initiative to revitalize ceasefire talks.
The United States has invited the warring parties to resume ceasefire talks and offered to take on the leading role in mediating the conflict, while moving the venue of the talks from Saudi Arabia to Switzerland.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has accepted the invitation, while Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudan Armed Forces, has not yet responded to it. Sudanese media report that two senior U.S. officials, USAID Administrator Samantha Power and Special Envoy Tom Perriello, planned to visit Port Sudan to meet with al-Burhan on August 7.
However, the meeting fell through after the two sides couldn't agree on the venue for the talks. Citing a Sudanese diplomatic source, Asharq reported that Sudan’s Foreign Ministry rejected a request by the Americans to hold the meeting at Port Sudan Airport for security reasons. Al-Burhan had wanted the meeting at his office.
Two days after the U.S. ceasefire invitation, on July 25, Sudan’s air force bombed Al-Alaqa market (video below) in northern White Nile, causing widespread destruction. The town is near the frontline but the target evidently was a civilian marketplace.
The next day, Friday, explosions ripped through Gandahar Market in Ombada, burning several vehicles and market goods (videos below). There were several victims.
The market previously was attacked by a suspected SAF drone in May, killing at least 12 people, according to our investigation. Gandahar Market is located in a populous RSF-controlled suburb of Sudan’s largest city, Omdurman, not far from the frontline.
The following day, on Saturday, July 27, the RSF shelled residential neighborhoods in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur. Medical sources reported 22 people were killed and 17 were injured, though this likely represents only a partial count.
Approximately 600 people have died in El Fasher since the RSF intensified a siege of the city in May, according to Ibrahim Khartoum, North Darfur Minister of Health. The number of wounded reached about 4,500, he said.
Meanwhile, at the Garri Refinery north of Khartoum, fires have continued to rage for weeks in various parts of the sprawling industrial complex. The loss of this refinery could result in higher petrol costs for Sudanese motorists for many years to come.
In Khartoum itself, a fire erupted at a well-known landmark on Nile Street, known popularly as the Communications Tower (NTC Tower), on July 20, as seen in a viral video (below). Centre for Information Resilience, an open source research organization, verified the footage using geolocation and satellite images.
However, another video filmed later in the day by a Turkish journalist from atop a building a few kilometers away showed the tower still standing and not on fire. A report by Radio Dabanga concluded that only the middle floors had been affected.
Many of Khartoum’s downtown buildings are pockmarked by bullet holes and some have been gutted by fires likely caused by gunfire, rockets, or mortars. However, this particular building is 3.5 km from the nearest frontline, and there was no fighting heard on the day of the fire, according to the Turkish journalist. The fire therefore may have been caused by an electrical accident or other hazard, due to the abandonment of the building.
Countless Sudanese businesses and institutions have shut down due to the fighting in central Khartoum, and foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations evacuated last year. Khartoum’s downtown, once the beating heart of the country both politically and economically, is shockingly desolate and devastated.
RSF advance into uncontested border area
In a new military development, the Rapid Support Forces have sent patrols across the Dinder River into the countryside at the eastern edge of Sennar State, bordering Gedaref. They reached as far as Bridge 45 (a bridge across an irrigation canal), according to video filmed by combatants.
This agricultural area previously was uncontested as the RSF hadn’t yet claimed the area and SAF had withdrawn behind the Rahad River in Gedaref State.
RSF operations in the region indicate an offensive posture toward Gedaref rather than a defensive one behind the Dinder River. Previously, we noted that the Dinder River “is a natural boundary where the RSF might choose to halt their eastward advance.” Instead, the latest official RSF propaganda video (below) highlights operations east of Dinder, emphasizing that they intend to attack Gedaref.
However, a large no-man’s land still separates the RSF from the SAF frontline, and there are no reports of recent clashes along this front. Bridge 45, which marks the farthest confirmed RSF advance, is about 20 km east of the RSF-controlled city of Dinder and 35-40 km west of the SAF-controlled villages of Abu Rakhim and Hawata.
The RSF recently lost their top field commander in Sennar, Abdelrahman Al-Bishi, in unclear circumstances. This development, among other factors—such as the weather and the need to consolidate control of Sennar, where SAF still control one large city—could slow the RSF advance, leaving most of Gedaref untouched for now.
Meanwhile, Radio Dabanga reports that the village of Abu Rakhim on the Rahad River has become an operations center for the army and allied armed groups:
“Citizens revealed a mass exodus of Abu Rakhma residents during the past weeks to neighboring cities and villages… the area is empty of residents and has been transformed into something resembling a military barracks. Identical sources reported that citizens in the area were subjected to looting, including their mobile phones and belongings.”
The Sudan Liberation Movement faction of Mustafa Tambour is one of the groups that has been active along this axis. Tambour, a signatory of the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement, is one of several ex-rebel leaders from Darfur who have aligned with SAF.
In Brief
Doctors Without Borders says that there are currently more than 120 severely malnourished children in Damazin Teaching Hospital malnutrition ward, exceeding 100% capacity. The aid organization says it has recently become more difficult to supply the hospital due to escalating conflict and the rainy season.
Tribal clashes erupted in Blue Nile State between the Hausa and Arab Zendiya tribes on July 26. A military source affiliated with the 4th Infantry Division said that 24 people from the Hausa were killed and the army sent reinforcements consisting of about two companies to contain the situation.
Floods caused by heavy rains have engulfed Kassala locality, affecting displacement camps. UN agencies, which had prepositioned supplies in the state in preparation for the rainy season, distributed cholera kits and other items.
The Sudanese Congress, an opposition party opposed to the war, has accused Sudan’s Foreign Ministry of targeting its members by denying them identity cards and passports. The ministry is also accused of discrimination on an ethnic basis.
Emergency Lawyers said last week that a “so-called security cell” in Gedaref consisting of military intelligence of the 2nd Infantry Division, the General Intelligence Service, and police, in cooperation with sympathetic prosecutors and local judges, continues to commit widespread mass arrests. “Gedaref State is witnessing intense cell activity, as the cell detains civilians on a tribal and regional basis, in addition to activists calling for an end to the war.” Some are detained at the 2nd Infantry Division, others at the Gedaref Police Department, and others are forcibly disappeared, according to the lawyers’ committee. Some were charged at the Gedaref Municipal Court, which issued some death sentences, imprisonment, and fines, without respecting the rights of the detainees.
The Sudanese Teachers Committee has launched a “great campaign to stop the War in Sudan,” under the slogan “Teachers are Builders of Civilizations and Advocates of Peace” (article in Arabic) (Facebook page). The campaign so far has released video messages from many teachers speaking out against the war. A number of Sudanese trade unions, university groups, and political parties announced their solidarity with the campaign. Sudan’s professional unions played a leading role in the revolution that toppled former dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, but were sidelined by a counter-coup in 2021 that led to the current war.