Rapid Support Forces Seize Army Base in Darfur

An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
TT

Rapid Support Forces Seize Army Base in Darfur

An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced capturing the command of the Sudanese Army’s 15th Division, marking its full control of West Darfur and its capital, less than a week after taking over the 16th Division in Nyala and 21st Division, Central Darfur State.

The RSF said it had “liberated the 15th Infantry Division of El-Geneina,” and announced that “the remnants and coup plotters in Western Darfur have been defeated.”

On October 29, the Forces took control of the headquarters of the 16th Division, one of the largest military bastions of the Sudanese army after Khartoum.

Two days later, they captured the “21st Division, its commander, 50 senior officers, and hundreds of soldiers.

The Support Forces did not reveal how they seized the 16th and 15th Divisions. It is likely that the forces there have withdrawn from the units.

RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo referred to the withdrawal earlier in his speech. But the army did not comment on the successive fall of its headquarters in Darfur.

However, the official spokesman for the Sudanese army, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, had downplayed on Wednesday the Rapid Support announcement of control of the army’s garrisons and divisions in Darfur.

Abdullah stressed that the armed forces "continue with strength and determination to carry out their sacred professional duty."



Israel Say UN Agency Helping Palestinian Refugees Must End Operations in Jerusalem by Jan. 30

Barbed-wire covers the walls surrounding the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
Barbed-wire covers the walls surrounding the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Say UN Agency Helping Palestinian Refugees Must End Operations in Jerusalem by Jan. 30

Barbed-wire covers the walls surrounding the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. (AFP)
Barbed-wire covers the walls surrounding the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) West Bank Field Office in Jerusalem on October 29, 2024. (AFP)

Israel is telling the United Nations that the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees must end its operations in Jerusalem by Jan. 30.

In a letter sent Friday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon again accused the agency known as UNRWA of “widespread infiltration” by Hamas militants who carried out the surprise Oct. 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel -- which UNRWA denies.

Danon said he was following up on legislation passed in late October by Israel’s Knesset banning UNRWA from operating in the “sovereign territory of Israel” and banning any contact between Israeli authorities and the UN agency. It was to take effect in 90 days.

In light of the legislation, he said, “UNRWA is required to cease its operations in Jerusalem, and evacuate all premises in which it operates in the city, no later than 30 January 2025.”

Danon said UNRWA had received notices from the Israeli Land Authority on Jan. 14, 2024 and May 28, 2024, indicating that its use of two properties in Jerusalem was done without proper authorization and demanding their evacuation. “These notices were bluntly disregarded by UNRWA, while shielding behind its immunity,” he said.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a speech in Oslo last week that for Israel, its sovereign territory refers to “occupied East Jerusalem.”

Its staff there “will be compelled to withdraw under protest,” and “local staff will remain and continue to provide emergency assistance and, where possible, education and primary healthcare.”

He said UNRWA will also “stay and deliver” in Gaza and the West Bank, which are occupied Palestinian territories and were not mentioned in Danon’s letter.

UNRWA has been the main agency procuring and distributing aid in the Gaza Strip, where almost the entire population of around 2 million Palestinians relies on the agency for healthcare and education.