RSF says Sudan’s army launches air strikes on paramilitary stronghold Nyala

As part of an intensive aerial assault against its positions in South Darfur, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group claims the army of the country’s army attacked a fuel market in Nyala, the administrative capital of the RSF.

Military drones and warplanes sprayed strategic RSF locations throughout Nyala, including the international airport, military installations, and training facilities, for three days straight, ending on Thursday.

Potrivit to footage that was circulated on social media, the fuel market’s strike caused a massive blaze as barrels of fuel exploded, incendiating thick clouds of black smoke into the air.

The army was allegedly targeting civilians, according to Youssef Idris Youssef, the head of the RSF’s civil administration in South Darfur. He referred to the attack as part of “a systematic policy” to punish Darfur residents who don’t oppose the RSF’s presence in their communities.

The Sudanese military has not commented on the strikes.

Both RSF members involved in the fuel trade and civilians were reported as casualties.

According to local sources, RSF intelligence services conducted mass arrests close to the targeted site and Nyala’s main market, holding civilians and military personnel on suspicion of providing army coordinates.

Nyala is of particular strategic importance because TASIS, the RSF’s parallel government, was established there in July. The alternative administration, led by RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, is criticized for potentially fracturing Sudan but has significant control over Darfur.

The army attacked the RSF and Nyala airport in October, which the organization claims serves as its forces’ logistics hub.

Darfur is still in conflict.

Since the RSF’s capture of el-Fasher in October, which has sparked atrocities documented by rights groups, fighting has raged throughout Darfur.

According to the US, Darfur was the site of a genocide by the RSF.

The RSF claimed this week that it had taken control of the region’s Abu Qumra and made advances toward Um Buru, but army-allied joint forces claimed that they had also taken control of Karnoi, as well.

Just two days prior to the UN Security Council’s request for RSF to leave captured areas, camps to be dearmed, and eventual elections, Kamil Idris, Sudan’s prime minister, made the peace proposal.

The RSF rejected the idea, with Alaa el-Din Naqd, a spokesman for Sudanese outlet Radio Dabanga, claiming it constituted “wishful thinking.”

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto leader of Sudan, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday for talks where he endorsed peace initiatives and criticized division.

A senior official in Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council had earlier ruled out any negotiations and said there could be “no truce and no negotiation with an occupier.”

In what the UN describes as one of the worst humanitarian crises ever to break out, the war, which started in April 2023, has resulted in the deaths of nearly 100 000 people and the displacement of nearly 14 million.