Thousands flee North Kordofan as RSF offensive intensifies in Sudan's Darfur region
Over 4,500 left Bara city, including 1,900 who have reached El Obeid, says local medical group
More than 4,500 people have fled Sudan’s North Kordofan state amid continued attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudan Doctors Network said on Friday.
“North Kordofan State is witnessing a rapid exodus from the Bara locality toward El Obeid city due to the deteriorating security situation and the continued violations committed by the Rapid Support Forces against civilians,” the medical group said in a post on X.
El-Obeid is the oil-rich capital of North Kordofan state, in the Kordofan region neighbouring Darfur and is a strategic link between Darfur and Khartoum.
“Field (reports) indicate that the number of displaced people has exceeded 4,500, including 1,900 who have reached El Obeid, while the rest remain en route under harsh conditions and facing severe shortages of food, water, and shelter,” the statement said.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday that some 1,100 people have fled Bara due to worsening insecurity in the Darfur region, bringing the total number of displaced civilians over the past four days to 35,620.
Sudanese authorities had reported deaths and injuries in a drone attack carried out by the RSF on the Zareibat Sheikh El Borai area in North Kordofan.
Renewed fighting
Since April 15, 2023, the Sudanese army and the RSF have been locked in a war that numerous regional and international mediations have failed to end. The conflict has killed about 20,000 people and displaced over 15 million as refugees and internally displaced persons, according to UN and local reports.
The World Health Organization reported on Thursday the last functioning hospital in the Sudanese city of Al Fasher was raided, and hundreds are feared to have been killed there after a paramilitary force overran the city this week.
Communications inside the city are cut off and doctors from the hospital have been offline since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the city on Sunday, Reuters News Agency reports.
Rights groups have long feared that an RSF takeover of famine-stricken Al Fasher could trigger mass revenge killings, and escapees from the city have reported summary killings.
‘Ethnic cleansing’
Rights groups and U.S. officials have accused the RSF and allied militias of mass killings in Darfur. Al Fasher was the Sudanese army's last significant holdout in the vast, western Darfur region as it battles the army in a war that erupted in April 2023.
The WHO said in a statement on Wednesday that four doctors, a nurse, and a pharmacist were abducted from the Saudi hospital.
According to Al Fasher residents, doctors, and humanitarians, the RSF repeatedly attacked hospitals inside Al Fasher during the siege, targeting them with rocket fire, drones, and raids on foot.
During the siege, doctors who remained in Al Fasher had been treating malnutrition, trauma cases, and maternity cases in the Saudi hospital with few if any supplies, after all other hospitals were abandoned due to attacks.