Fierce clashes erupted in the city of El Fasher, the capital of the Darfur region, on Monday morning, and areas, neighborhoods and markets in the city center witnessed fierce fighting between the army and armed movements loyal to it on the one hand, and the Rapid Support Forces on the other.
The fighting has caused the displacement of thousands of residents of the city, amid fears that the options for safe exit are limited due to the tight siege imposed on El Fasher. Residents are facing great difficulties in getting out of the city due to the intensity of the fire and the widespread deployment of fighters.
Plumes of smoke were seen rising in the city on Monday, as a result of mutual shelling between the army and the RSF, while clashes were taking place in the eastern part of the city.
Minawi threatens:
The head of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), Minni Arko Minawi, threatened the RSF, saying that El Fasher will be a graveyard for them, adding: “We have started military efforts to remove the siege on El Fasher.”
A source close to the RSF told Rhino that the army forces and allied movements were preparing during the past period to ignite the war in El Fasher, citing that the army leadership continued to send supplies to the movements’ forces by dropping them routinely, especially during the past weeks, and added: “The intention of the army leadership to ignite El Fasher was premeditated”.
The situation in El Fasher is even more dangerous in light of the sharp divisions among the more than 80 armed movements and armed groups, of which six main movements are fighting on the side of the army, three of which are the movements of Gibril Ibrahim, Minni Arko Minawi and Mustafa Tambur, while two others are neutral, namely the movements of Al-Hadi Idris and Al-Tahir Hajar, and the group of Musa Hilal, the sheikh of Al-Mahamid, a sub-tribe of the Rizeigat tribe, has aligned itself with the army’s side.
The National Congress is on the line:
Abdelmajid Abdelhamid, a journalist and former minister in the National Congress government, had earlier revealed that the army, with the help of armed movements and allied militias, is making arrangements to attack the RSF in El Fasher, North Darfur state.
Abdel Hamid, who is close to the decision-makers in the Islamist movement, promised fierce battles in the coming days that will make El Fasher “a graveyard for the RSF,” as he put it.
According to observers, Abdul Majid’s speech – one of the supporters of the war and its continuation – reveals the prior intentions of the army, movements and Islamist brigades to launch attacks on El Fasher.
Fears of civil war:
For its part, the civilian forces of the Darfur region condemned what they described as “attempts by the former regime to drag the components of Darfur into the civil war.” They also condemned the announcement by the armed movements and the Awakening Council led by Musa Hilal to take sides in the fighting, which they considered as dragging the region towards a comprehensive war that would abort the December popular revolution and restore the Muslim Brotherhood regime to power on the skulls of the people of Darfur.
The statement reads: “We called on the parties to the war not to make El Fasher a theatre for renewed conflict so as not to complicate matters further, but we see harbingers of a slide into a war that will not survive, and against this background we in the civil forces of the Darfur region emphasize that the continuation of this absurd war is a threat to peace, social security and the humanitarian situation, especially since the United Nations has warned of the worsening of the crisis in the region and its increasing impact on unarmed civilians fleeing from its hell.
He added: “It has become certain that the army has been kidnapped by the leaders of the hateful Brotherhood organization and allied movements, and after their meeting that took place in Barkal, there was talk about storming El Fasher and dragging it to a holocaust, and scenarios that may be catastrophic with premeditation”.
The West warns:
Last week, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the United Arab Emirates warned of the dangers facing some 800,000 people in the capital of North Darfur, and called on both sides of the fighting to work to protect civilians and prevent further casualties.
Thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in the capital of North Darfur, which has long been spared from the war that has been raging in the country for a year.
The UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said the fighting in El Fasher could lead to bloody conflict between population groups across Darfur and further hinder the distribution of humanitarian aid in a region that is already on the brink of famine.
