Sudan’s Khartoum Gripped by Fierce Street Clashes for 3rd Week

Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum in September. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum in September. (Reuters file)
TT

Sudan’s Khartoum Gripped by Fierce Street Clashes for 3rd Week

Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum in September. (Reuters file)
Smoke billows from fighting between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum in September. (Reuters file)

Fierce street clashes continued to rage between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces, of Mohammed Hamdan "Hemedti" Dagalo, in the capital Khartoum on Sunday for the third consecutive week.

Backed by the Al-Baraa bin Malik Battalion, the army has been carrying out an intense offensive to reclaim the entire city.

Little information has emerged on the details of the battle. Some reports have said the army has made advances on the western bank where the Blue and White Rivers merge. It has also captured some high-rise buildings where the RSF was fortified.

RSF media platforms said the forces repelled army advances on the White Nile River bridge that links Omdurman to Khartoum, leaving it with heavy losses.

The army and RSF have both refrained from releasing footage of the fighting. Reports have however said that the military managed to enter the heart of Khartoum amid heavy fighting.

A Sudanese network of volunteer rescuers said on Sunday the military carried out an airstrike a day earlier on a marketplace in Khartoum, leaving 23 people dead.

"Twenty-three people were confirmed dead and more than 40 others wounded" and taken to hospital after "military airstrikes on Saturday afternoon on the main market" in southern Khartoum, the youth-led Emergency Response Rooms said in a post on Facebook.

Meanwhile, head of the Sovereign Council and army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan visited the Jabal Moya region that the military had reclaimed from the RSF after days of fighting.

Videos posted on social media on Sunday showed Burhan visiting his forces in the region that lies 250 kms south of Khartoum.

Jabal Moya is seen as a vital area given its strategic location between three states: Gezira, Sennar and White Nile.

The RSF had acknowledged defeat in the region, accusing the Egyptian army of intervening in the Sudanese military’s favor by launching strikes in its push to capture Jabal Moya.

Burhan was seen visiting the troops, praising them for their victory against the "terrorist rebel militia" - the RSF, said Sovereign Council media.

The RSF continues to hold Sennar, Gezira and parts of the White Nile states.



UN, NGOs Concerned Over Houthis’ Prosecution of UN Workers

Ongoing arrest campaigns in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen (Local Media)
Ongoing arrest campaigns in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen (Local Media)
TT

UN, NGOs Concerned Over Houthis’ Prosecution of UN Workers

Ongoing arrest campaigns in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen (Local Media)
Ongoing arrest campaigns in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen (Local Media)

The Houthis in Yemen kicked off the trial of detainees from UN agencies and international aid organizations by referring them to a prosecution operating under their authority in Sanaa and specialized in state security and terrorism cases.
The move has raised the concern of heads of UN entities and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) whose employees are being forcibly held by the Houthis.
They expressed “grave concern” and renewed calls for their immediate release.
The Iran-backed Houthis have, since early June, arrested and forcibly disappeared dozens of people, including at least 13 UN staff and many employees of nongovernmental organizations operating in their controlled territories.
The militia has expanded its campaign to include more than 70 employees of international and local organizations in areas under its control in northern and western Yemen, and has accused them of spying for foreign parties.
In response to the Houthi measure, heads of UN entities and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) issued a statement on Saturday, renewing urgent calls for the immediate release of their staff arbitrarily detained by the Houthi authorities in Yemen, amid reports that some of them may now face “criminal prosecution.”
The signatories of the statement included the UN Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, UNDP head Achim Steiner, UNESCO head Audrey Azoulay, UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, UN human rights chief Volker Turk and Oxfam International executive director Amitabh Behar.
The group emphasized that the reported referral to “criminal prosecution” further raised serious concerns.
“Six OHCHR staff – one woman and five men – were arbitrarily arrested by the de facto authorities in June together with seven other UN personnel. A further two OHCHR staffers and two colleagues from other UN agencies have been detained and held “incommunicado” since 2021 and 2023 respectively,” they wrote in the joint statement.
“At a time when we were hoping for the release of our colleagues, we are deeply distressed by this reported development,” they said, adding that the potential laying of “charges” against their colleagues is unacceptable and further compounds the lengthy incommunicado detention they have already endured.
Renewed Concerns
The heads of UN entities and NGOs also stated that the reported referral to “criminal prosecution” further raised serious concerns about the safety and security of their staff, as well as that of their families.
They warned that such action would further hinder their ability to deliver critical humanitarian aid to millions of Yemenis in need.
If tried, those detainees, who are accused of espionage, would face possible death sentences.
“The targeting of humanitarians in Yemen – including arbitrary detention, intimidation, mistreatment, and false allegations – must stop, and all those detained must be released immediately,” the heads of UN entities and NGOs stressed in the statement.
It added that the UN, INGOs, and partners are working through “all possible channels” and with multiple governments to secure the swift release of those detained.