WED 8 JUL - Civilians in El Obeid are experiencing water shortages, blackouts, and price spikes amid a “relentless” campaign of drone strikes targeting critical infrastructure by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The city, currently held by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has long been the subject of attempts to impose a siege, but recent weeks have seen escalating strikes that have damaged power stations, water treatment sites, and civilian markets.
On Monday, a resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) described the city as being under “siege-like conditions” that were having a “serious impact” on basic services and costing civilian lives.
Speaking to Avaaz on Tuesday, Omer, a humanitarian worker who lives in western El Obeid, said the past few weeks had sometimes seen several drone strikes in a single day.
“That means you spend the entire day trying to stay in one place and find shelter, yet even that offers no protection,” he said.
“The drones hit homes and injure innocent civilians who have nothing to do with this war. There is a complete absence of basic services, security, and safety.”
El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, sits on a key highway linking east and west Sudan and is an important commercial and logistical hub.
Its fall would deprive SAF of its main base in the Kordofan region, hamper its supply lines, and enable the RSF to target national capital Khartoum.
Omer said many public services were already limited before the war, but that damage to the city’s infrastructure meant “even the most basic necessities are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain”.
“We are facing severe shortages of drinking water. Most water stations are no longer functioning,” he said.
“Fuel is still available, but reaching fuel stations has become extremely dangerous. Many people now rely on the black market, where fuel costs around three times the official price.
“Internet service is highly unreliable. Yesterday, mobile networks were down for most of the day and only returned in the evening.”
On Monday, Sudan Tribune reported that drone strikes had damaged El Obeid’s primary electrical substation, causing blackouts and cutting off power to water pumps, adding that the price of a jerrycan of water had doubled in recent weeks.
It said the city had already been cut off from its two main water basins. One to the north - the Bara basin - is in an area controlled by the RSF, while another to the south - the Al-Sidr basin - has suffered damage to its infrastructure from strikes.
Satellite images published last week by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab showed damage to electricity generation sites, fuel storage facilities, and El Obeid’s central market. Others showed damage to petrol stations as well as queues of dozens of vehicles at forecourts.
The report said the damage was “consistent with intentional bombardment of civilian infrastructure necessary for the sustainment of life”, though added that SAF installations had also been hit.
The RSF, along with the allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), controls the territory to the north, west, and south of El Obeid.
The road leading east out of the city - towards Kosti in White Nile and ultimately Khartoum - remains under SAF control but is the target of frequent RSF strikes
“It has become extremely difficult for goods to enter the city,” said Omer.
“Any truck travelling to or from El Obeid risks being targeted by drones, forcing traders to raise prices. The eastern road, which was one of the city's main supply routes, is now almost deserted because of the drone threat.
“If the roads are cut off, it will become a humanitarian catastrophe.”
El Obeid currently hosts around 500,000 people, including at least 83,000 displaced by fighting elsewhere, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The latest assessment from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which applies from May to September, said some displaced populations in El Obeid were experiencing “emergency” food insecurity and that there was a risk of famine.
Recent reports suggested the RSF had massed reinforcements around El Obeid ahead of a possible ground assault, although it is not clear the group would launch such an assault in the absence of a full siege or during the ongoing rainy season.
It is possible the current strikes are intended to weaken the military and civilian presence in the city in preparation for a ground assault once conditions allow.
On Friday, following a motion tabled by the UK, the UNHRC held an urgent debate on the situation in El Obeid.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk told the council that El Obeid was facing “relentless” drone strikes and that “another human rights catastrophe” was unfolding in Sudan.
“Civilians have been subjected to siege-like conditions for 18 months, battered by relentless drone strikes,” he said.
“Across the Kordofan region, drones launched by both sides have repeatedly struck markets, schools, fuel stations, water infrastructure and civilian vehicles.”
He said his office had documented the deaths of at least 45 civilians in 15 drone strikes between 6 and 28 June, and that the actual number was likely to be higher.
“These attacks and fuel shortages have a compound impact, making it difficult for civilians to access clean water, food, transport, and healthcare, and to communicate with each other and the outside world,” he said.
“Shortages of clean water are reaching a critical point in El Obeid.
“We urgently need a humanitarian pause to allow for the unhindered delivery of food and humanitarian aid into the city and its surroundings.”
A resolution passed by the council on Monday condemned “all forms of external interference that fuel the conflict, including the supply of arms and military material”, though declined to name any of the countries believed to be playing a role in the war.
The United Arab Emirates in particular has long been accused of providing essential military, financial, and political support to the RSF, an allegation it has denied.
The resolution also asked the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan to conduct an urgent inquiry into any violations of international law being committed in El Obeid.
In a statement in response, Tasis - an RSF-led alliance attempting to establish a parallel government in areas under its control - said El Obeid was the site of “military bases, combat forces, operations rooms, command centers, ammunition depots, military transportation, and facilities that are used for effective military use”.
It said its forces were carrying out “legitimate military operations” and that the “presence of civilians does not turn a legitimate military objective into an illegal target”.
Elsewhere in North Kordofan, a drone strike on Monday killed 13 civilians, including five women, who were travelling to a wedding near Jebrat al Sheikh, a town around 160km north of El Obeid, according to the Emergency Lawyers human rights group.
The following day, the group said, a further two people were killed in a strike on a civilian vehicle carrying water near the northwesterly town of Hamrat Al-Sheikh.
At least 120 people have died in a cholera outbreak that is spreading across Kordofan, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The conflict has seen multiple outbreak of cholera in different parts of Sudan, often resulting from damage to water stations and a lack of access for humanitarian aid.
Speaking at a press briefing last week, Dr. Shible Sahbani, the WHO’s representative in Sudan, said the current outbreak had begun in West Kordofan, with at least 838 suspected cases and 117 associated deaths across three localities.
It has since spread to Bara, North Kordofan, with at least 264 suspected cases and three associated deaths in the area.
“Cholera is a big issue in Sudan,” Dr. Sahbani said.
“It was [previously] coming in a cyclical manner every three years, but due to the conflict, and due to the constraints in access and limited supplies and so on, now we face three waves within two years.”
Over 200,000 people in Bara, including more than 20,000 children, could be affected by the outbreak of cholera, along with another of measles, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
On Monday, the WHO announced that a convoy carrying 8.5 metric tonnes of aid, including cholera treatment kits, had reached the South Kordofan cities of Dilling and Kadugli.
Multiple villages have been razed and thousands have been displaced by RSF attacks amid clashes in North and West Darfur, according to reports.
The attacks reportedly began last Wednesday in an area along Sudan’s western border with Chad.
Speaking to the AFP, one survivor said the RSF targeted homes in his village using artillery and that, while fleeing, he passed through two other villages that were “burned entirely”.
“People died on the street with no one to bury them," he said.
Another said everyone in his village who wasn’t able to run away had been killed.
At least six villages inhabited mainly by members of the Zaghawa - an ethnic group historically targeted by the RSF - were attacked, Sudan Tribune reports.
It follows clashes between the RSF and SAF, along with the allied Joint Forces, in the region to the south of Tine, a heavily-contested crossing on the border between North Darfur and Chad currently held by SAF.
An offensive launched late last month saw the army capture Abu Gamra, North Darfur and Kulbus, West Darfur, Mada Masr reports.
Kulbus, which similarly sits on the Chad border, was a key node for RSF supplies and cross-border recruits. It also sits around 100km north of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur and a major stronghold for the group.
On 3 July, insecurity displaced an estimated 3,560 people from one village alone - Wadi Fungo - in the Um Baru region of North Darfur, according to the IOM.
Days before, on 29 June, around 6,005 were displaced from Kulbus town and the surrounding villages, with the majority of those believed to have crossed the border into Chad.
It followed the displacement of more than 3,600 people from villages in Um Baru over two separate days in mid-June.
The fall of the city of El Fasher - which also saw alleged atrocities against members of the Zaghawa and other ethnic groups - secured the RSF’s control of every state capital in Darfur, but SAF and the Joint Forces retain control of some areas around Tine, Um Baru, and along the Chad border.
The weekly dispatch features the latest developments, first-hand testimony, footage, photos, stats and analysis on Sudan. We can connect you with voices from the ground, experts, and survivors of the war. Get in touch on +44 7514 796 678 or sudan@avaaz.org.
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The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have taken control of a strategic road linking capital Khartoum with El Obeid, opening a key supply route for the first time since the start of the war and delivering a major setback to reported attempts by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to bring the city under siege.
At least 22 civilians have been killed in attacks believed to have been carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a strategic town in North Kordofan, according to reports.
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