On Tuesday, the army tried to cut off paramilitary supply routes into Omdurman, Sudan’s western capital.
Witnesses reported air attacks and ground engagements in Omdurman. Residents posted footage of pilots ejecting after the RSF stated it shot down a fighter airplane. Army officials were silent.
On April 15, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began fighting, bringing daily battles to the capital, sparking ethnically motivated atrocities in Darfur, and threatening to plunge Sudan into civil war.
As the conflict escalated, the RSF moved fighters from Darfur and Kordofan across bridges from Omdurman to Bahri and Khartoum, the other two cities that make up the capital across the Nile.
Residents said Tuesday’s battles in Omdurman were the fiercest in weeks, and the army was fending off an RSF attack on a police facility while gaining territory.
“Air strikes, artillery, and bullets have bombarded for hours. Manahel Abbas, 33, of Omdurman’s Al-Thawra neighborhood, said, “It’s the first time we’ve had continuous strikes from every direction.”
Four years after a popular revolt overthrew longtime tyrant, Omar al-Bashir, violence broke out over an internationally supported civilian rule plan.
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. brokered numerous ceasefire arrangements in Jeddah that were canceled last month after both parties violated them.
South Darfur tribal elders pledged allegiance to the RSF on Monday, escalating western Sudanese strife. After 2003, Arab militias helped defeat a Darfur rebellion, forming the RSF.
Since mid-April, about 2.8 million people have been displaced, including nearly 650,000 who have crossed into neighboring countries, according to U.N. estimates.
