Sudan’s North Kordofan ‘deteriorating’ under RSF as thousands flee

More than 4,500 people have fled Sudan’s North Kordofan state as a result of Sudanese medical organization’s rapid-fired violent attacks on civilians there and in neighboring North Darfur’s el-Fasher, according to a Sudanese medical organization.

Nearly 2, 000 people have successfully travelled from the Bara locality, which the RSF recaptured last week, to the state capital of el-Obeid, which is located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south, according to field reports from the Sudan Doctors Network, which were released on Friday.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

The rest, however, are still “remaining in harsh conditions and facing severe food, water, and shelter,” according to the organization’s statement, adding that North Kordofan is also experiencing a “deteriorating security situation.”

شبكة أطباء السودان: الدعم السريع يتسبب في نزوح أكثر من 4500 مواطن من بارا ووصل 1900 شخصا إلى مدينة الأبيض

تشهد ولاية شمال كردفان موجة نزوح متسارعة من محلية بارا باتجاه مدينة الأبيض نتيجة لتدهور الأوضاع الأمنية واستمرار انتهاكات الدعم السريع ضد المدنيين. وتشير التقارير الميدانية… pic. twitter.com/cmCFFrt6WY

For months, the RSF and the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been at odds with one another in Bara. Nearly 300 people, including children and pregnant women, were killed in an attack by the RSF in July when they raided and burned North Kordofan villages.

SAF seized control of Bara in mid-September, but by the end of last week it was back in the RSF’s hands.

More than 1,500 people were killed in el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, in addition to the exodus, which comes as the RSF commits a string of atrocities in the west of North Kordofan.

The majority of civilians are still stranded in El-Fasher despite the more than 36 000 attempted escape attempts. Before their parents, and their bodies strewn in the streets, surviving survivors have recorded children who were killed.

Multiple videos that RSF troops filmed standing over piles of dead bodies and carrying out a row of unarmed young men have been verified by Al Jazeera.

Increasing conflict

Experts warn that similar atrocities committed by the RSF could be compelled to occur in North Kordofan after the RSF’s seizure of el-Fasher, where the paramilitaries had been denied access to food and medicine for nearly 18 months.

According to Bakry Eljack, a professor of public policy and expert on Sudan and South Sudan at Long Island University Brooklyn, “they need to control their soldiers” because “the RSF has been out of control.”

Experts applauded Mohamad Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the leader of the RSF, saying he would establish a committee to look into “violations” committed by his soldiers in El-Fasher on Wednesday.

Eljack said, “If we don’t do anything about this, it won’t end in El-Fasher; it will spread to North Kordofan.” There is no guarantee that what we saw in El-Fasher will be used again.

In Khartoum, the capital, was thrown into the hands of a power struggle between the RSF forces and the SAF in 2023, which sparked a bloody civil war.

The RSF has since taken control of more than a third of the nation, making it the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing 12 million people.

The UN’s assistant secretary-general for Africa, Martha Pobee, cited escalating fighting in North Kordofan as evidence in an emergency session of the council on Thursday.