Map: Sudan's Rapid Support Forces extend control in Sennar State
Paramilitary seizes large parts of peaceful farming state
After two days of fighting in the Sennar State capital Sinja, 29-30 June, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took full control of the city and began extending their control beyond it in all directions.
Within the past day the RSF have seized control of Mazmoum and Wad an-Nail near the Blue Nile State border. They also crossed the Blue Nile and captured Suki and Dinder City, threatening an advance back north along the Dinder and Blue Nile Rivers, which could result in the full encirclement of Sennar City.
The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) retain control of that frontline city, which the RSF approached and shelled before ultimately bypassing when they struck south toward Sinja last Saturday. SAF’s commander-in-chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited Sennar City shortly before the RSF launched their attack against Sinja to the south.
Elsewhere in the state, SAF troops have put up little resistance, if any. Many SAF troops were already deployed to the frontline, closer to Al Jazira State, and the units in the rear areas were not prepared for combat. After smashing through the SAF frontline at Jebel Moya last week and winning the battle for Sinja over the weekend, the RSF advanced unchecked.
The renegade paramilitary’s rapid advance for the first time puts them within reach of Sudan’s eastern border with Ethiopia. It also means that soon they will likely control parts of the Rahad Game Reserve and Dinder National Park, posing a risk to the wildlife which could be poached by combatants for food or sport.
This is the first major RSF territorial gain since December 2023, when they seized most of Al Jazira State in a similarly rapid offensive. In the months that followed, the RSF perpetrated abuses throughout the state, including looting, rapes, mass arrests, attacks on medical personnel, widespread theft of cars and mobile phones, and forced recruitment.
In terms of military geography, the RSF’s advance into Sennar creates major problems for the Sudan Armed Forces. SAF can no longer resupply or reinforce the 4th Infantry Division in Damazin, the 10th Infantry Division in Abu Jubeiha, or the 18th Infantry Division in Kosti. Effectively, vast swathes of SAF-controlled territory in south-central Sudan are cut off from the country’s east and north and its de facto capital at Port Sudan.
Sennar State is one of Sudan’s most fertile agricultural states. As noted in our previous report, the invasion of the state could disrupt exports to other parts of the country, deepening Sudan’s already severe grain shortage and raising the risk of famine. Additionally, mass displacement and economic disruption adds to the humanitarian burden in other Sudanese cities and villages, which are now receiving tens thousands of people fleeing from Sinja and other parts of Sennar.
Sennar lies outside of the conflict zones that were affected during the country’s previous civil wars. The last time the state was invaded was in 1899 by Anglo-Egyptian troops under the British general Herbert Kitchener, during the final stage of the Anglo-Mahdist War.
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