John Adoyi, PBA Journalism MenteeAs the conflict in Sudan rages on, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Sunday, claimed that it has captured a key Police headquarters in Khartoum, the country’s capital.
The Paramilitary group which has been in conflict with the Sudanese army since April, said it took control of the Central Reserve Police base in Southern Khartoum during heavy battle.
The group released video footages which showed its troops carrying boxes of ammunitions and other weapons from a warehouse. It also said it had captured 160 pick-up trucks, 75 armoured personnel carriers, and 27 tanks.
Although, the authenticity of the footages have not been verified as neither the army nor Police have released a statement, fighting in key battle grounds has escalated in recent days.
Despite series of cease-fire brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, heavy fighting in Khartoum, Bhari and Omdurman have increased and spreading quickly to other cities in the country like El Geneina and Kordofan.
Citizens in these areas have reported heavy artillery bombardment and shelling as the RSF and the Army battle to take control of the cities.
Intense fighting and violence against civilians have also been witnessed in residential areas, making more people to flee their homes to IDP camps in Sudan and neighbouring countries like Chad.
“Since the early morning in north Omdurman we’ve had air strikes and artillery bombardment and RSF anti-aircraft fire,” 47-year-old resident Mohamed al-Samani told Reuters by phone. “Why did the world leave us to die alone in Burhan and Hemedti’s war?,” the student queried.
Other citizens have reported widespread killings in Nyala and in other parts of Darfur with the United Nations raising the alarm over ethnic violence and killing of members of the Masalit community in Western Darfur.
The conflict between the army and the RSF has entered its eleventh week with no end in sight despite series of talks that have taken place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Fighting between the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, began last April as a result of power struggle between both men.
In June, death toll from the fighting has increased to a thousand with more than two million persons internally displaced while more than 500 thousand persons have fled to neighboring countries like Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.
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