RSF and Joint Force battle at Jebel Oum on Chad-Sudan border
Fighting on new front threatens RSF control of parts of West Darfur
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a Joint Force outpost at Jebel Oum in Jebel Moon Locality of West Darfur on Thursday, October 17, one of a series of escalations along the Chad-Sudan border.
The Joint Force, consisting of ex-rebels who now receive weapons, money, and vehicles from the Sudanese military, claimed to have repelled the RSF attack and inflicted heavy casualties on the renegade paramilitary.
For their part, the RSF claimed control of the area and they published videos proving they had captured a Joint Force campsite. Additionally, they claimed to have pursued Joint Force troops across the border into Chad.
However, the RSF may have subsequently withdrawn from the area, due to the risk of a counterattack by the Joint Force, which is historically powerful within Jebel Moon Locality, where this fighting took place.
At least three localities along the Chad-Sudan border—Sirba, Jebel Moon, and Kulbus—witnessed fighting within the past three weeks after Joint Force reinforcements arrived in the area and began operating against the RSF.
These border areas are historically inhabited by mostly non-Arab tribes, such as Gimr, Dajo, Tama, Masalit, and Zaghawa, though Arab nomads may move through the areas, and they dominate parts of the state farther to the east.
Fighting previously took place in Jebel Oum area about three weeks ago, on September 30 and October 1. The UN Migration Agency, IOM, reported,
“Field teams estimated that 800 households were displaced from Jebel Aom, and approximately 1,406 households were displaced from Sileia town of Jebel Moon locality, West Darfur due to increased security concerns. Households were displaced primarily within Jebel Moon locality and to locations across the border to Chad. The situation remains tense and unpredictable.”
Farther south, on October 3, armed clashes erupted between the RSF and the Joint Forces in Abu Surug and Bersiliba towns of Sirba locality, West Darfur. IOM reproted:
“Field teams estimated that 4,050 households were displaced from Abu Surug town, and approximately 3,205 households were displaced from Bersiliba town. Households were displaced primarily within Sirba locality and to locations across the border to Chad.”
In the same locality, on October 16, another 74 households or so were displaced from Gemiri and Refaida villages of Sirba locality, West Darfur, again because of clashes between the RSF and Joint Forces in Bersiliba and Rufeid villages, according to IOM.
In the latest fighting, the RSF troops attacking Jebel Oum arrived mounted on 70 combat trucks and 150 motorcycles, according to a statement by the Joint Force.
Both sides made claims about inflicting casualties on the other side and capturing much equipment, such as motorcycles and combat vehicles. The Joint Force said they killed “dozens” of RSF while the RSF said they killed more than 30 of the enemy.
These claims may exaggerate the scale and intensity of the fighting. Due to their inferior strength in West Darfur, the Joint Force are likely to rely on hit-and-run tactics against RSF targets. They do not necessarily threaten RSF control of West Darfur—but their operations in the area do divert RSF resources away from other fronts, such as North Darfur and central Sudan, where there is heavier fighting.
Sudan’s Darfur region suffered a lengthy war from 2003-2020 involving various rebel groups, the paramilitary RSF, and the Sudanese army and air force. The new war that erupted in 2023 involves most of the same parties but different alignments.
The Joint Force (ex-rebels SLM, JEM and others), which formerly fought the Sudanese military, is now allied with it and fighting the RSF. They were initially neutral for the first year of the war (April 2023-March 2024), but declared war on the RSF in April 2024. Since then, fighting escalated in the Darfur region.
Most of the army bases in Darfur were overrun by the RSF in the first eight months of the war, except for the 6th Infantry Division in El Fasher. This makes the Joint Force the RSF’s principal antagonist in the Darfur region.
Other potential rivals of the RSF in Darfur include a faction of the Revolutionary Awakening Council loyal to Musa Hilal, who announced his support for the army in April, and the Abdelwahid faction of the SLM, which is so far neutral, but which warned the RSF of retaliation after one of its supply convoys was ambushed in March.
Video below: RSF militia show off captured items at a Joint Force campsite, seemingly hastily abandoned, in Jebel Oum area. Sounds of ongoing fighting.
Video below: Joint Force field commander in Jebel Oum gives a statement on the fighting, October 17, denying claims of capture of commander Ahmed Jurun and affirming continuing presence of the Joint Force in Jebel Oum area.
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News in Brief
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A source in Gedaref State reported the arrival of many wounded SAF soldiers in connection with the new offensive toward Wad Madani.
Western donor nations issued a joint statement on humanitarian access in Sudan, saying that both warring parties are systematically obstructing humanitaraian efforts: “In Darfur, only a fraction of the aid needed to feed 7 million acutely food insecure people has been allowed in since August. Untold numbers of people have already died, and many more will die as a result.”
Sudan’s Chief Justice Abdelaziz Abdeen has formed a committee of three judges to review decisions of the Committee for Dismantling the 1989 Regime, established after the 2019 revolution. A coup by generals of the old regime in 2021 largely halted the work of the committee.
The Sudanese Journalists Union condemned the RSF’s seizure of a journalist’s home in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.
Bloomberg News reports on the impact of Sudan’s war on neighboring South Sudan in a new article, “A Broken Oil Pipeline Plunges South Sudan’s Capital Into Chaos.” The article says, “Since the oil pipeline stopped working, life has gone from hard to worse as general services began grinding to a halt.”
As previously reported in this publication, the rupture occurred due to a clog in an underground pipeline in territory controlled by the Rapid Support Forces in northern White Nile State, at a village about 20 km south of the town of al-Giteina, near the frontline with the Sudan Armed Forces. Due to “military operations” in the area, pump stations operated by the state-owned Bashayer Pipeline Company (BAPCO) ran out of diesel, causing a “gelling incident”—a clog, in other words—that led to a “major rupture,” according to a letter dated March 16 by Sudan’s Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mohieldin Naim Mohamed Said.
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