Khartoum, Dec 18 (EFE).- The paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces said on Monday it had taken control of the Sudanese army base in Wad Madani, a hub of humanitarian operations amid the war that broke out eight months ago.
The office of the official spokesman for the Rapid Support Forces posted a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) account saying, “we seized control of the SAF First Infantry Division in Wad Madani,” claiming that they had inflicted ” severe losses” on the army, “its allied militias” and “its jihadi shadow brigades,” “ultimately forcing them to retreat.”
A flash update on the situation released Monday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported fighting on the outskirts of Wad Medani since Friday morning, with airstrikes and gunfire reported throughout the weekend.
“As of 18 December, RSF have reportedly entered Wad Medani town. Clashes remain ongoing. The situation remains tense and unpredictable,” the statement said.
Since the start of hostilities, Wad Medani, in Aj Jazirah state, 136 km southeast of the capital Khartoum, has served as a hub for humanitarian operations, with nearly 500,000 people fleeing to Aj Jazirah state, including 86,400 to the town of Wad Medani, according to OCHA.
The International Organization for Migration issued an early warning flash alert on Saturday, saying that between 14,000 and 15,000 people had fled Wad Medani since Friday.
OCHA reported that 57 humanitarian organizations have a presence in the state of Aj Jazirah, including 25 international NGOs and six UN agencies, and that they have “reduced their footprint in Wad Medani due to the security situation,” relocating staff to neighboring states and suspending all humanitarian missions until further notice.
In their Twitter post, the paramilitaries accused the army of killing and detaining civilians in Wad Madani and other towns, and using them as human shields, and called on the international community to take action.
So far, the regular Sudanese army has not commented on the matter.
The armed conflict in Sudan erupted over tensions over army reform and the integration of paramilitaries into the regular forces, amid a political process to put the country back on a democratic path after the 2021 coup.
The war has already left around 12,000 dead, more than 6.7 million forced to leave their homes, in addition to a humanitarian catastrophe in the country. EFE
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