Showing posts with label Zurrug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zurrug. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Zamzam IDP camp in Al Fasher, N Darfur, Sudan could be surrounded by Hemeti's RSF in days or weeks

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: A nightmare scenario, unless something major happens and none of the current trends change, is not only the fall of Sudan's Armed Forces' (SAF) 6th Infantry Division in Al Fasher, capital city of North Darfur, Sudan to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) but that Zamzam IDP camp in the area is also likely to be surrounded by RSF in days or weeks.


Here is a rough transcript I made of a video (Abrabic subtitles) showing Abdallah Hussain, News Anchor for Albalad TV interviewing Nathaniel Raymond, Director, Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, USA on Sunday, 22 Sept 2024 and streamed on 23 Sept 2024.


Question by ABDALLAH HUSSAIN:

"So Mr Raymond, regarding your previous point that RSF outnumbers the joint forces plus the Sudanese Army and of course the rainy season has been a factor right now that’s occurring on the battlefield, what after the rainy season can we anticipate that El Fasher will fall?"


Answer by NATHANIEL RAYMOND:

"If, at the end of the day making predictions in a yes, no or [on this day?] X or Y is going to happen doesn’t help but I think it does help to talk about where the trends are going.


Right now, Sudan Armed Forces controls a corridor on the western side of the city that’s maybe 8-9 kilometres long by 4 kilometres wide depending on how you measure it. And RSF has all the [advantages?] at this point. 


Now things can change but if none of the current trends change what we really have to worry about is not only the fall of 6th Infantry Division in Al Fasher but is a Rapid Support Forces move on Zamzam camp. 


What for me is a nightmare scenario and you can tell by watching the space - the Sudan Armed Forces is also concerned about this - is that RSF takes the B26 road going south, not [South?] Sudan Armed Forces' checkpoint on that road, and then from Al Fasher in Nyala squeezes Zamzam and surrounds it, and you can tell based on what we can see inside Zamzam that people there are also concerned about being surrounded and that is a nightmare scenario [.?.] unless something major happens the [trend line?] is that Al Fasher will fall and Zamzam is likely to be surrounded in days or weeks".

FURTHER VIDEO👇 

El Fasher Siege Continues | Analysis



VIDEO INTERVIEW dated Tue, Sept 24, 2024: "As the siege continues and El Fasher battles intensify, Abdallah Hussain, News Anchor for Albalad TV spoke with Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director at the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, to delve into the escalating humanitarian crisis and its impact on civilians".

Source: YouTube https://youtu.be/J_CtJr3YJXw

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Related

African Union urges end to fighting in Sudan's El-Fasher

AFP yesterday (24 Sep) says African Union urges end to fighting in Sudan's El-Fasher: AUC said its chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat "calls for an immediate cessation of the fighting inside and outside of El-Fasher," it added. Mahamat also called on the AU's Peace and Security Council to "urgently consider the situation".

Full story: https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/532383.aspx


Sudan: RSF to turn Zurrug, N. Darfur into a dream city

Sudan Watch - October 05, 2023
As Hemeti, the ruthless leader of Sudan's Janjaweed militia, has grand plans for Zurrug, a remote western province in North Darfur, Sudan the transformation of Zurrug risks more unrest. 

Full story: https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-rsf-to-turn-zurrug-n-darfur-into.html


End

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Sudan: Conflict in Melit & Kutum, North Darfur. Fires in An Nuhud, W. Kordofan & Madeinat Al Gedaref

HERE is a DTM Sudan Flash Alert
Dated Sunday, 28 April 2024 - full copy:

Conflict in Melit and Kutum localities, North Darfur


DTM Sudan's Early Warning Flash Alerts provide immediate updates on incidents and sudden displacement in Sudan.


On 26 April 2024, clashes renewed between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Melit and Kutum localities, North Darfur. SAF conducted airstrikes targeting RSF positions across Melit town of Melit locality and Al Zurug village of Kutum locality, North Darfur. 


According to field teams, the event led to the displacement of approximately 35 households from Al Zurug village. Affected households sought refuge within Kutum locality.  


There were also reports of deaths in Melit town. 

The situation remains tense and unpredictable. DTM will continue to monitor the developments closely and will provide further information on displacement and population mobility across Sudan, on a weekly basis. The latest DTM Sudan report is available here [ https://dtm.iom.int/reports/dtm-sudan-weekly-displacement-snapshot-28 ].

Disclaimer: Due to the current circumstances, the DTM network is relying on remote interviews with key informants and further verification is not possible at this time.


*DTM Sudan Flash Alerts provide an initial estimation of affected population figures gathered from field reports. All information is therefore pending verification through DTM’s Emergency Event Tracking (EET) and/or registration activities and is not to be used as official figures.


Source: DTM 28 April 2024 I VIEW IN BROWSER Update One

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Further DTM alerts:


DTM Sudan Flash Alert dated 28 April 2024: 

Fire in An Nuhud (An Nuhud Town), West Kordofan


On 25 April 2024, a fire broke out in An Nuhud Town of An Nuhud locality, West Kordofan. The fire was reported in Althawra neighbourhoods and was caused by extreme weather conditions. Field teams reported that 55 houses burnt down. Affected households sought improvised shelter within the same location. 

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DTM Sudan Flash Alert dated 28 April 2024:

Fire in Madeinat Al Gedaref (Gedaref Town), Gedaref


On 24 April 2024, a fire broke out in Gedaref Town of Madeinat Al Gedaref locality, Gedaref. The fire was reported in At Taddamon neighbourhood and was caused by a household accident. Field teams reported that four houses burnt down. Affected households sought shelter with host communities within the same town. 


END

Friday, April 26, 2024

Sudan: Thousands could die as the RSF Janjaweed militia close in on North Darfur's capital city Al-Fashir

SOME 800,000 in North Darfur's capital city Al-Fashir have no escape route from incoming attacks by Hemeti's Rapid Support Forces' Janjaweed militia as violence in Sudan spreads. Al-Fashir is the last major city in the huge western Darfur region not yet under control of the RSF which has taken control of four other Darfur state capitals over the past year. 700,000 IDPs fled to camps in Al-Fashir to escape violence in other regions. Read more.

From The New Arab (London) www.newarab.com
Dated Friday, 26 April, 2024 - here is a copy of its report in full:

Thousands could die as Rapid Support Forces close in Al-Fashir in Sudan's Darfur province


Some 800,000 people inside Al-Fashir city have no escape route from incoming attacks by the Rapid Support Forces' Janjaweed as violence in Sudan spreads.

Photo: Rival military groups have uprooted millions in Sudan and left the country in a dangerous humanitarian crisis [Getty]


The capital of the Sudanese state North Darfur is facing an imminent catastrophe that is threatening some 800,000 people, as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) closes in on the last stronghold of rival Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) following weeks of battles.


Sudanese activists and international researchers warned on Thursday that the city of Al-Fashir is "about to be under siege" as the RSF gains ground in the surrounding province, terrorising villages and conducting intense bombing campaigns against the Sudanese army.


RSF is attempting to gain control of the city from the SAF and have begun closing in with its troops preparing for a full-scale invasion, according to researchers.


Al-Fashir is the last major city in the huge western Darfur region not yet under the control of the RSF which has taken control of four other Darfur state capitals over the past year. Some 700,000 internally displaced people fled to camps in Al-Fashir having escaped violence in other regions.


The latest round of violence began in the African country in April 2023 and snowballed into a civil war when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.


The RSF has been blamed for mass killings of civilians - which are often ethnically driven - and numerous human rights violation, including terrifying levels of sexual violence.


The war has uprooted swathes of the population and humanitarian workers have described the conditions as among the worst in the world.


The UN said that some 20 million people in Sudan are struggling to find enough food to eat and that famine is now widespread.


Last week, UN officials warned the Security Council that 800,000 people in Al-Fashir were in "extreme and immediate danger" as fighting was moving closer. 


[HERE is a copy of a post at X by Radio Dabanga English 5:42PM April 25, 2024: "Refugees International warns of imminent #RSF attacks on #El Fasher in #NorthDarfur, home to 800,000 civilians. Immediate action needed #SudanNews #KeepEyesOnSudan #sudan_war_updates"]

There are fears fighting in the city could trigger inter-communal violence throughout the Darfur province which surfaced during conflicts in the 2000s, and could spill into neighbouring Chad.


Adam Mousa, director of Darfur Victims Support and Sudan Defenders, said that in April the RSF and aligned Arab militias fought with the Sudanese army and attacked 15 villages in the east of Darfur, forcing thousands to flee to al-Shagra town and the Zamzam displacement camp in Al-Fashir.


"Most of the displaced have no water, food or medicine, and at the same time the attacks are continuing," Mousa said during an online media briefing on Thursday which included activists, Sudanese civilians, researchers, and aid workers.


Mousa, who is from Darfur, said his organisation has requested to begin a ceasefire initiative and sent letters to SAF and RSF and are "waiting for a response".


Some eleven villages there have been burnt in recent days, according to Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health.


It has been challenging for journalists and humanitarians to gain on the ground access since the outbreak of war and as a result, observers have been relying on open-source intelligence to track the conflict.


Raymond's Humanitarian Research Lab has been closely documenting the RSF and SAF movements using open-source data and satellite imagery, and last week sounded the alarm to the international community about RSF’s imminent attack on Al-Fashir.


"We have a city about to be under siege," Raymond said.


RSF fighters are about eight kilometres from the main SAF infantry base and open-source reports and imagery collected in the past day shows RSF fighters moving on the city from multiple directions, Raymond explained.


"The situation for those in Al-Fashir will likely get significantly worse in the coming hours and days," he said.


"At this point, civilians and the Sudan Armed Forces do not have a clear escape route to exit Al Fashir. We call this phenomenon, in our business, a kill box.


"The space for intervention is probably gone," he added.


Raymond fears that if the RSF behave in line with the mass atrocities conducted over the past year, the number of casualties in the region could exceed the 110,000 deaths of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.


It is estimated that some 14,000 people have been killed in the war since last April, though some projections are far larger.


The RSF, which is formed of Janjaweed fighters aligned with former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, have conducted ruthless campaigns against civilians and there are fears they will conduct massacres in Al-Fashir.


There have been widespread human rights violations documented by RSF fighters, including cases of sexual violence against women and girls.


Allegations of rape, forced marriage, sex trafficking in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan have been recorded. Rights groups say the truce scale of the crisis remains unknown due to underreporting and fear of reprisals.


Some 1.1 million people are internally displaced in Sudan while more than 3 million are refugees in neighbouring Chad, Eritrea and Egypt, according to figures from the UN refugee agency.


Hala Al-Karib, Sudan Regional Director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, said that the anticipated invasion of Al-Fashir has been a "ticking time bomb" considering the number of local militias present in the city.


She said the city has been an important hub for activists and human rights defenders and hosts many displaced families. The only hospital in Sudan for survivors of sexual violence is in the city, Al-Karib said.


The war has taken a spiral in recent months due to foreign interference, which observers say has prolonged the conflict and fuelled new levels of danger.


RSF's leader is reportedly receiving support from Russian mercenaries and allied Arab communities coming from the Horn of Africa, as well as Libya.


US officials recently said the UAE was providing financial and military support to RSF, which has been accused of committing crimes against humanity. Iran and Egypt are believed to be supporting Sudan's army with military drones.


Earlier this month, France hosted a donor aid conference to mark one year since the outbreak of war and garner much needed attention to the humanitarian disaster.


Western officials  are seeking an end to the fighting through diplomacy, but critics say it has done little to defuse the violence.


View original: https://www.newarab.com/news/mass-casualties-feared-rsf-encircles-sudans-al-fashir

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Related


Sudan Watch - February 28, 2020 

Sudan: RSF to turn Zurrug, N Darfur into a dream city

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2023/10/sudan-rsf-to-turn-zurrug-n-darfur-into.html


Sudan Watch - March 02, 2024

Sudan: In Zamzam camp, North Darfur, the death rate is catastrophic. At least 1 child dies every 2 hours

Malnutrition and disease are rife at the ‘overwhelmed’ Zamzam camp, a host to 300,000 internally displaced people, one of hundreds in Sudan, where war has displaced nearly 8 million people. The scale is simply terrifying. Zamzam is just one camp. There are hundreds of others in Sudan. 

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-in-zamzam-camp-north-darfur-death.html


Sudan Watch - March 13, 2024

Sudan: 3.9M people food insecure in Khartoum state. 

Khartoum's partly a ghost town, only 20-30% remain

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/sudan-39m-people-food-insecure-in.html


Sudan Watch - March 14, 2024

South Sudan Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala: Our people ‘on brink of destitution, slowly perishing’

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/south-sudan-bishop-eduardo-hiiboro.html


Sudan Watch - March 17, 2024

Ali Karti, SG of Sudan’s Islamic Movement, widely seen as a mastermind of Sudan's war, has now announced a truce with RSF will never be accepted

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/ali-karti-sg-of-sudans-islamic-movement.html


Sudan Watch - March 29, 2024

UK CHANNEL 4 NEWS VIDEO FROM CHAD-SUDAN. 

UK doubles its aid to Sudan to £89m as crisis escalates

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/03/uk-channel-4-news-video-from-chad-sudan.html


Sudan Watch - April 06, 2024

SAVE SUDAN. STOP WAR IN SUDAN. 

Tagadum coalition unveils vision to end war and rebuild state

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/04/save-sudan-stop-war-in-sudan-tagadum.html


Sudan Watch - April 21, 2024

VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: 

Situation in Sudan ‘probably the most disastrous in the world’ says ex-PM Hamdok

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/04/video-transcript-situation-in-sudan.html


Sudan Watch - April 22, 2024

Sudan: SpaceX to shut off Starlink access for users outside availability areas by 30 April 2024

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/04/sudan-spacex-to-shut-off-starlink.html


Sudan Watch - April 24, 2024

Sudan: Displacement and recent clashes in North Darfur, Apr 01 - Apr 17 2024 & Apr 14 - Apr 16 2024

https://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2024/04/sudan-displacement-and-recent-clashes.html


CSIS - April 25, 2024

By Cameron Hudson 

Preventing Another Darfur Genocide

https://www.csis.org/analysis/preventing-another-darfur-genocide


Radio Dabanga - April 25, 2024

Int’l NGO: ‘UNSC needs to urgently intervene in North Darfur’

Refugees International, a prominent INGO, issued a grave warning on Tuesday indicating that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are about to launch imminent attacks on the city of El Fasher, North Darfur, home to 800,000 civilians, which requires urgent action.

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/intl-ngo-unsc-needs-to-urgently-intervene-in-north-darfur


END