Sudan’s army has launched a major offensive against the powerful paramilitary group it is fighting in the country’s civil war, targeting areas of the capital it lost early in the conflict.
During airstrikes on Thursday, government forces shelled Rapid Support Forces (RSF) bases in the capital Khartoum and Bahri, to its north.
Sudan has been at war since the army and the RSF began a fierce battle for power in April 2023, in what the UN called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
More than 150,000 people have already died in the conflict and more than 10 million people (about a fifth of the population) have been forced to leave their homes.
The military escalation comes despite US efforts to broker a ceasefire, which is being discussed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week.
According to residents, the artillery and air strikes began at night and became more intense at dawn.
According to several sources, the army crossed key bridges over the Nile River, which separated government-controlled areas in Omdurman from those controlled by the RSF.
The RSF claimed to have repelled the attempts, but sounds of clashes and plumes of smoke were reported from several areas in central Khartoum.
Since the beginning of the war, the paramilitaries have controlled almost the entire capital.
Thursday’s progress appears to be the government’s first significant move in months to regain ground.
The UN has called for “immediate” action to protect civilians and end the fighting.
Much of the worst and most intense fighting has taken place in densely populated areas, and both sides have accused each other of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas.
“The ongoing hostilities across the country have left millions of civilians in misery and led to the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world,” the UN warned on Wednesday.
It was noted that half of the 10 million people who fled their homes were children, while at least two million people sought protection in neighbouring countries.
It also called Sudan “the world’s worst hunger crisis,” with fears of widespread famine as people have been unable to grow crops.
There have also been warnings of a possible genocide of non-Arabs in the western region of Darfur.
A cholera epidemic is currently raging in the country, with more than 430 people having died from the easily treatable disease in the past month, the Health Ministry reported on Wednesday.
But the conflict has made it extremely difficult to treat the affected areas.
