Residents of El-Obeid live in fear as RSF paramilitaries mass forces nearby, with army shooting down drone targeting strategic Sudanese city
EL-OBEID: Residents of this strategic Sudanese city are living in fear as paramilitary forces appear to be preparing for an assault.
The army reported shooting down a drone targeting El-Obeid on Saturday, according to a military source speaking anonymously.
The North Kordofan state capital serves as a regional hub and strategic prize for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“We are living in fear,” said a resident of El-Obeid’s Qubba neighbourhood who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.
The RSF announced Thursday it had accepted a truce proposal put forward by international mediators.
However, the UN subsequently said it saw “preparations for intensified hostilities” in the Kordofan region.
“We are especially worried after what happened in El-Fasher,” said Soaad Ali from El-Obeid’s Karima neighbourhood.
The RSF’s capture of El-Fasher two weeks ago followed reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting.
That takeover triggered fears the conflict could spread into oil-rich Kordofan.
El-Obeid hosts an airport and sits on a key supply route linking Darfur and Khartoum.
Last month, the RSF captured Bara, north of El-Obeid, forcing over 36,000 people to flee.
The paramilitary group said last week it had massed forces in Bara to retake El-Obeid.
Since El-Fasher’s fall, more than 80,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas.
The General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees reported more than 16,000 people arrived in Tawila needing food, water and medical care.
Mathilde Vu of the Norwegian Refugee Council said many families arrived with “children who are not their own”.
The children “have lost their parents on the way, either because they’ve… disappeared in a chaos, or they’ve been detained, or they’ve been killed”.
Survivors reported women and men were separated while fleeing El-Fasher, with hundreds of men detained.
The ceasefire proposal from the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and UAE proposes a three-month truce.
A senior Saudi official said it would encourage both sides to hold peace talks in Jeddah.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor Minni Arko Minnawi said any truce requires RSF withdrawal first.
“The truce must be preceded by the withdrawal of the Janjaweed and mercenaries from residential areas,” Minnawi stated on X.
Since erupting more than two years ago, the war has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million people. – AFP
