Sudan's army breaks RSF siege on strategic city of el-Obeid
Fighting and exchanges of artillery fire are ongoing in the strategically important Sudanese city of el-Obeid, after Sudan's army broke an almost two-year long Rapid Support Forces (RSF) siege of the capital of North Kordofan state on Sunday.
Footage shared online showed celebrations taking place inside the city and a reported 200 supply trucks heading into el-Obeid to relieve it.
Abdullah, a lawyer in el-Obeid, told Middle East Eye that heavy clashes between the RSF and the army's mobile forces had taken place on Sunday.
"But the situation is still unstable," he said. "In the morning, there was mutual shelling between the army and RSF in the west and northwest of the city. Many shells fell in residential neighbourhoods and there were reports of injuries and deaths."
Bara, a town north of el-Obeid, is still under RSF control. The paramilitary force, which has been at war with the army since April 2023, has never controlled el-Obeid itself but is still present in the surrounding countryside.
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The army’s Fifth Infantry Division, made up of fighters with combat experience, has maintained its headquarters in el-Obeid throughout the siege.
A separate local source, who cannot be named for security reasons, said the RSF bombed el-Obeid with "heavy missiles" from the north on Monday afternoon.
"The RSF is still here...There are reports of large withdrawals, but it is still attacking the city from the west and northwest."
- Abdullah, lawyer in el-Obeid
Abdullah said army warplanes struck RSF positions north of the city and that there had been reports of the RSF hitting the army's command centre, though there was no indication that anyone had been killed or wounded in this attack.
"The RSF is still here," Abdullah said. "There are reports of large withdrawals, but it is still attacking the city from the west and northwest."
Despite that, he noted celebrations had been taking place, with residents welcoming soldiers from the army entering the city.
"The communication and electricity networks are still not functioning," Abdullah, who was messaging MEE using a Starlink internet connection, said.
El-Obeid's strategic importance
Sitting at the intersection of several roads connecting western and southern Sudan to the capital Khartoum, el-Obeid’s strategic significance means it has been fought over since the start of the war.
Military analysts told Middle East Eye that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) was intending to use el-Obeid as a springboard for operations in the sprawling western region of Darfur, which is almost completely controlled by the RSF.
“The SAF does indeed have a ground strategy for western Sudan. Today’s lifting of el-Obeid’s siege is very strategically significant both for ground and air operations,” said one of the analysts, who cannot be named for security reasons.
'Today’s lifting of el-Obeid’s siege is very strategically significant both for ground and air operations'
- Military analyst
“This means re-activating el-Obeid airport and exploring a number of land routes towards positions in western Sudan.”
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), said the army appeared to be positioning with its allied Joint Forces to break the RSF’s siege on el-Fasher in North Darfur.
This operation would be launched from el-Obeid and Babanusa, a town in western Sudan that was also under an RSF siege broken by the army. Raymond told MEE this two-pronged operation would probably take place in March, though there is no current confirmed timeframe.
On Sunday, the army also seized back control of el-Gitaina, a town just south of the capital Khartoum.
The gains came as the RSF said it would sign a charter with allied political and armed groups to establish a “government of peace and unity” in the territories it controls.
The paramilitary group, which is backed by the UAE and has been accused of committing genocide by the US and human rights groups, controls most of Darfur and parts of the region of Kordofan.
Last week, it launched a brutal three-day attack in White Nile state, killing 433 people, as its leaders convened in Kenya to announce its parallel “peace and unity” government.
The siege of el-Obeid began not long after the war started in April 2023.
In June of that year, after more than 40 days of siege, residents told MEE that water was not running from taps, food was low, there had been no mainline electricity for a month, healthcare facilities were closed and fuel was only available at markets, where it was being sold for six or seven times its normal price.
The RSF controlled the surrounding countryside and established roadblocks on the edge of the city, looted vehicles coming into it and World Food Programme (WFP) warehouses.
Those goods were then sold at a market renamed “Dagalo” in honour of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF leader better known as Hemeti.
The siege of el-Fasher
El-Fasher, the only city in the whole of Darfur still in the hands of the army, has been under an RSF siege since May last year.
On Monday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that it was having to suspend all activities in Zamzam camp near el-Fasher, which hosts around 500,000 internally displaced people.
The RSF has launched multiple ground assaults on the camp since 11 February and razed approximately half of its market, according to Yale’s HRL.
In Zamzam and el-Fasher, the RSF has used four Chinese lightweight AH4 howitzers, the only known buyers of which are the UAE.
It has also, according to the HRL, used three Chinese-made drones “consistent with FH-95s” flown into the RSF-controlled Nyala airport.
On Monday, a military cargo plane was shot down above Nyala airport.
The RSF claimed the plane was one used by the army to bomb villages and markets in Darfur, but one source suggested the paramilitaries may have mistakenly shot down one of their own supply planes.
Sudan's war has resulted in one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with over 11 million people displaced and over 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Thousands are estimated to have been killed.
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