PORT SUDAN (Sudan): Over 36,000 Sudanese civilians have fled towns and villages in the Kordofan region east of Darfur, according to the UN, as the paramilitary warned that its forces were massing along a new front line.
In recent weeks, the central Kordofan region has become a new battleground in the two-year war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Central Kordofan is strategic because it is located between Sudan’s Darfur provinces and the area around the capital Khartoum.
The widening of the war comes just over a week after the RSF took control of El-Fasher — the army’s last stronghold in Darfur.
The RSF has set up a rival administration there, contesting the pro-army government operating out of the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
In a statement late Sunday, the UN’s migration agency said an estimated 36,825 people have fled five localities in North Kordofan between October 26 and 31.
Residents on Monday reported a heavy surge in both RSF and army forces across towns and villages in North Kordofan.
The army and the RSF, at war since April 2023, are vying for El-Obeid, the North Kordofan state capital and a key logistics and command hub that links Darfur to Khartoum, and hosts an airport. The RSF claimed control of Bara, a city north of El-Obeid last week.
“Today, all our forces have converged on the Bara front here,” an RSF member said in a video shared by the RSF on its official Telegram page late on Sunday, “advising civilians to steer clear of military sites”.