Sudan Nashra: Prosecution declares war on Civil Front for Democracy leaders | RSF imposes steep fees on Gezira farmers | Tribal mobilization in North Darfur

As the one-year anniversary of the war in Sudan approaches, the nation’s political and social fabric continues to come apart under the stress of fighting and the ensuing social tension. Wars within the larger war are emerging, as factions are pitted against one another. 

In the backdrop of this political disintegration, tens of millions of Sudanese people struggle to evade the looming specter of death brought on by hunger, disease, and the brutal violence of armed conflict.

In the south of Sudan, a secondary conflict has erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu. The clashes, which first erupted in June in the South Kordofan State, escalated into fierce battles lasting hours in the vicinity of Kadugli, the state’s capital. Caught in the crossfire were the residents of Kadugli, with the Rapid Support Forces and their siege on one hand, and the murky outlook for the alliance between SPLM-North (Hilu) and the Sudanese military against the RSF on the other. Sudanese Armed Forces Assistant Commander-in-Chief Yasser al-Atta acknowledged these tensions in recent comments, even as they were denied by Hilu.

In the western region of Kordofan, the Sudanese military’s stronghold in the key borderland city of Babanusa continues to hold its ground against the RSF’s relentless efforts to seize control of the 22nd Division. 

In the war-torn region of Darfur, where conflict has raged for over two decades, combat developments are accelerating, as the RSF launched an operation against a military unit of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur, which takes as its stronghold the Marrah mountains in Darfur. However, tensions eased after the RSF issued a formal apology. 

In Darfur’s historical capital city of Fasher, the RSF troops nearing the city's borders are clashing with the armed movements in Abu Shouk camp. This marks the second confrontation between the two sides since the war’s outbreak. 

On the political front, statements made by Sudanese Armed Forces Deputy Commander-in-Chief Shams Eddin al-Kabashi, advocating for regularizing popular resistance, have revealed internal rifts within political forces, as well as a contradiction with the views of the military’s Assistant Commander Yasser al-Atta, who leads the military operations. 

The Civil Front for Democracy also continues to churn in crisis. On one hand, the internal power struggle over the direction of the bloc, which consists of political parties brought together under former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, continues to come to the surface. On the other, the front is facing a new challenge from the state, which has marked several front members as seditious. 

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Internal strife in National Umma Party erupts over Civil Front for Democracy’s position

Amid the ongoing turmoil in Sudan, the political landscape remains unstable for all political forces, whether they are aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces and its recent shift toward a military resolution, or those who have called for an end to the war and have signed agreements with the RSF. Opposing stances persist as the military advances in the capital, Khartoum, while the RSF further extends its reach into the Gezira and White Nile states.

While the Civil Front for Democracy’s supreme leadership council convened in Addis Ababa, led by former Prime Minister and the front’s head Abdalla Hamdok, the National Umma Party led a reform initiative aimed at addressing organizational challenges within the front, exposing the party’s own internal rifts in the process. 

National Umma Party head Erwa al-Sadig told Mada Masr that his party is a founding entity of the front and, before that, a founding member of the Freedom and Change Movement, advocating for unity among civil forces against the war. 

However, Sadig acknowledged that there are issues concerning the political entities that make up the front, suggesting that these matters could potentially be resolved through the ongoing conferences in Addis Ababa.

However, sources within the front told Mada Masr that the internal disagreements arose due to sharp differences in viewpoints among several influential leaders, notably between key figures like Yasser Arman and Khaled Omar, concerning the nature of communications with the military, as well as with Cairo.

The sources expressed concern that these disputes may hinder political progress and peace efforts.

Within the National Umma Party, the front’s largest constituent party, disagreements have escalated regarding the bloc’s stance on the warring parties in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, as well as the party’s reform demands for the front. An indication of the divide came when the RSF appointed a National Umma Party leader to head a civil administration in Gezira, even as the paramilitary continues to attack civilians in the state.

The disagreements reached the point where some members have advocated for boycotting the party’s media platforms.

On the party’s internal strife, assistant to the National Umma Party chairperson Rabah al-Sadiq al-Mahdi told Mada Masr that the party encompasses various factions, with some aligned with state institutions, including the military, and others leaning toward tribal affiliations closer to the RSF. 

Mahdi said that the party's decision has been to maintain a neutral stance between the two currents, and work with them toward shared principles, a ceasefire, and a political process through a roundtable conference to steer the country toward peace and democratic transformation.

Mahdi, daughter of the party’s historical leader and former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, further said that this is the only rational decision to avoid entanglement in affiliation-related conflicts which have gone hand in hand with the ongoing war. She added that this decision will allow the party to present a platform conducive to national consensus amid ongoing polarization. 

Mahdi also stressed that the party's foundational work has been stagnant for an extended period. The party's activities have been limited to the actions of a few individuals in leadership roles, first through the Freedom and Change Movement and then the Civil Front for Democracy, bypassing necessary institutional oversight and participation.

Addressing the hindrances to disciplined political performance, Mahdi said that meetings for key offices such as the presidency and the coordination council only took place in March, eleven months into the war. The political office, the party's legislative and oversight body, has yet to convene. Although a meeting is scheduled for the last third of this month.

Mahdi told Mada Masr that these issues have significantly damaged the party, reducing it to a mere shadow of other parties’ actions. She stressed that no matter the efforts these parties make, their ability to reach the two sides of the conflict, or even address the Sudanese public, is far less, compared to that of the National Umma Party. 

Mahdi believes that by maintaining consistency within the coordination council and holding the anticipated meeting within the political office, the party will be able to overcome what she called the imposed hibernation due to institutional absence and effectively contribute to ending the war. 

While she does not foresee these disputes leading to a split within the National Umma Party, as long as institutional respect is maintained, Mahdi does not rule out internal ruptures if individual decision-makers continue to remain silent out of fear of tarnishing the party's reputation.

She stressed the importance of ending the silence within “one of Sudan’s most important parties,” which has often played a balancing role and must not “tip the scales” in favor of one side and away from the nation.

Mahdi added that the Sudanese public awaits bold steps, viewing the continuation of war as not only a consequence of the fighting of armed groups destroying the country and its people, but also of the political forces' incompetence and return to their old battles.

She added that it is time for a significant shake-up among policy-makers and politicians who cannot see beyond their historical or ideological animosities, or the pursuit of ministerial seats after the war concludes.

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Public Prosecution declares new war against Civil Front for Democracy leaders

Amid this political fragmentation, the National Committee for War Crimes and Rapid Support Forces Violations lodged complaints against 17 of the Civil Front for Democracy’s leaders, notably former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, former Foreign Minister Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, and her sister Zainab al-Sadiq al-Mahdi. The charges against these leaders included inciting war against the state and conspiring to undermine the constitutional system.

Lawyer Mohamed Abdel Ghany told Mada Masr that the complaints against the front’s leaders entail issuing a red notice from the Public Prosecutor to the Interior Ministry to be shared with Interpol. 

According to Abdel Ghany, the prosecution’s move signals that the state is moving away from a definition of the war as political or a mere act of rebellion and toward one that sees it as one waged on terrorism against the state. This necessitates a change in the description of the military’s role from suppression of a rebellion or holding political negotiations to litigating crimes and violations.

In a recorded speech at the Sudanese Military Academy in Omdurman earlier this week, the Sudanese military’s Assistant Commander-in-Chief Yasser al-Atta called on the Public Prosecutor to look into complaints against political groups that he claimed were supporting rebellion. 

Atta criticized state institutions for harboring RSF allies and supporting their rebellion and launched a scathing attack on the state leadership for its “lax” stance toward the current situation.

Atta’s speech included direct responses to criticisms launched by Shams Eddin al-Kabashi against the popular resistance in a previous speech.

Last week, during the graduation of new batches from the joint forces affiliated with the Darfur movements in Gadarif State in eastern Sudan, Kabashi stated that the popular resistance must disarm and its status must be regularized.

A military source told Mada Masr that Atta's statements do not conflict with Kabashi's, adding that there are no internal disagreements within the military leadership. The source reiterated the clear stance regarding arms outside state control, stating that such arms must exclusively be in the military’s possession.

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Sudanese military advances in Omdurman again, begins to expand operations in  Khartoum

In Omdurman, west of the capital, Khartoum, field sources told Mada Masr that the military regained control over the Doha neighborhood southwest of the city. Additionally, the military expanded and deployed its forces in the Ombada area to the west, as well as in new parts of the Fatehab area to the south.

The sources said that the military fully secured the Ombada al-Sabeel neighborhood to the west, while its forces advanced in the Ombada Hara 12, which houses the locality headquarters and holds strategic importance for the military’s effort to assert control over the entire western Omdurman area.

Meanwhile, a field source stated that the military has taken control of the perimeter of the Chinese hospital, previously under the RSF’s control, at the entrance of the Gameab area — a primary evacuation point for the RSF’s wounded soldiers. 

Additionally, the military released footage showing the surrender of several RSF members following a siege on the area.

In Bahri, one of the three cities that make up the capital, military forces deployed in the Kadro neighborhood in the city's north set up ambushes for RSF personnel and fuel vehicles coming from the Gaili oil refinery to the north of the city.

According to the military source, the ambushes are part of a concentrated targeting of the Kadro area, which, they added, was subject to airstrikes earlier in the week that hit an RSF convoy.

Furthermore, the source said that military drones in the Bahri military zone also targeted a number of RSF vehicles in the Shambat neighborhood, destroying seven of them.

In Khartoum city, the military has taken control of the construction site of the Dabasin bridge near the Shagara military area — housing the Ammunition Corps and Armors Corps — that had witnessed fierce clashes between the warring parties during the conflict. 

The military’s expansion in the Dabasin area in southern Khartoum, along the route to Jabal al-Awliya area, also involved deployment and search operations in the neighboring Azozab neighborhood.

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Attack on Atbara, Burhan’s prompt visit

Atbara, the city that gave birth to the 2018 revolution, witnessed a drone attack on Tuesday at an events hall during a fitar for the Baraa ibn Malik battalion fighting alongside the Sudanese military. Twelve people were killed in the strike, and dozens more were injured.  

The Baraa Ibn Malik Islamist battalion has openly fought alongside the military since the onset of the war.

Atta had mentioned that they do not object to various battalions or groups — like Islamists and the Ghadiboun group, the revolutionary group that took up arms and assassinated several state figures — fighting alongside the military.

According to a source within the battalion who spoke to Mada Masr, the Ramadan fitar held in Atbara commemorating one year since the war began was attended by the families of those who had been killed or injured in the past year, along with several military leaders. 

The source stated that a drone carrying explosive devices targeted the events hall where the fitar was held.

The River Nile State government in northern Sudan has begun an investigation into the incident, according to a government source who spoke to Mada Masr. 

Sudanese Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan promptly visited Atbara city Wednesday evening following the incident, touring the city and its streets in a vehicle, shaking hands with passersby amid crowds of citizens.

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Clashes in Fasher and tribal mobilization

A military source in North Darfur State told Mada Masr that fierce clashes erupted in western Fasher between the SLM-Nur and the RSF this week.

The clashes — which went on for three days — were in response to an ambush set up by the RSF at the end of March, resulting in the deaths and capture of several SLM army forces, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the city of Malit in North Darfur State witnessed tribal mobilization from the Zaghawa tribe following RSF attacks and subsequent sieges of these areas. 

A local source said that RSF fighters from Daein launched an assault on Zaghawa tribe areas in the Labdu region of South Darfur State, forcing residents to evacuate. 

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Complex war in South Kordofan

In South Kordofan State, military confrontations between the SPLM (Hilu) and the Sudanese military erupted last week in the vicinity of Kadugli city. 

A military source said that the military situation in South Kordofan state is unstable, with intense clashes lasting for hours between the two forces. 

The city found itself caught between the RSF’s fire and siege, and the murky outlook regarding the alliance of the Sudanese military and the SPLM-North. 

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RSF violations persist in Gezira

Mada Masr has obtained new testimonies detailing violations and crimes committed by the RSF against residents of several villages in Gezira State. These violations include murder, assault, looting, and forced displacement of civilians. 

Local sources said that the RSF prevented farmers from harvesting in the Kab al-Gidad area of Kamleen locality in northern Gezira, demanding exorbitant fees for permits amounting to 1 million Sudanese pounds. 

According to local sources, RSF forces attacked the village of Khor, forcing around 8,000 people to evacuate. 

The village of Nayel was besieged by dozens of RSF officers riding motorcycles, resulting in the killing of five villagers and the detention of several others. 

A citizen told Mada Masr that the RSF has been detaining young villagers on charges of affiliation with the military intelligence and former regime, then demanding ransoms for their release, amounting to 1.5 million Sudanese pounds in some cases. Families are coerced into paying these ransoms out of fear that the detainees may be subjected to torture or execution. 

The RSF has cemented its position in Gezira after taking control of Wad Madani, the capital of the state, in mid December following the military’s mysterious withdrawal. 

The military had recently mobilized substantial forces and allied armed groups in the city of Managil and surrounding areas to the east and south of Gezira in preparation for an assault on RSF positions and a bid to retake the vital agricultural and economic state.

A source who recently fled Wad Madani told Mada Masr about the situation within the city, which is under a complete communication and internet blackout. 

The city’s citizens are using traditional means of transportation — carts pulled by donkeys and bicycles, the source said. The RSF imposes tolls on main roads, according to the source, who added that attempting to take side streets exposes individuals to robberies by other lawless elements affiliated with the RSF. 

He added that the RSF mandates fees and prior permits for transporting goods, household furniture, as well as all vehicles and travel buses. The charges range from 10,000 to 3 million Sudanese pounds. 

In the absence of internet access, the RSF is providing satellite communication devices (Starlink), but charges 3,000 Sudanese pounds per hour. They also offer cash transfers through banking apps but deduct 15 percent of the transferred amount, according to the source. 

The source also noted the emergence of multiple stolen goods markets locally referred to as "Dagalo Markets" — named after RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” — specifically in the Wahla Mahgoub and Margan areas south of the city.

Member of the Gezira People's Appeal Initiative Loai Abdel Rahman told Mada Masr that the RSF has started looting furniture and livestock, along with ongoing violations in villages west of Hasahisa and southern Gezira. Additionally, forced displacement to neighboring states persists in several villages.

Abdel Rahman noted internal rifts within the RSF’s factions in Gezira, pointing out that groups affiliated with a leader known as Gogga are in dispute with another faction in the same area. He mentioned that Gogga-affiliated units are pursuing the other faction in villages, sparking chaos.

According to Abdel Rahman, the state faces a shortage of medicines, communication breakdowns, and deteriorating living conditions. The RSF has looted citizens' savings and confiscated crops from some farmers, compelling others to sell their produce at low prices to avoid theft.

Amid the general turmoil in Gezira State and accusations against Hemedti's forces of crimes against humanity, RSF media aired footage featuring their leaders in the region — Abu Agla Keikel and Bishi — touring villages and asserting that there are no violations or crimes.

In response to the media campaign, Abdel Rahman said that “the appearance of RSF leaders in some areas is mere propaganda and an attempt to portray a non-existent safe reality. Citizens now fear retaliation if they speak against the RSF, leading them to falsely claim that all is fine. However, in reality, the situation is different.”

The member of the Gezira People's Appeal Initiative said that large forces from the Sudanese military and allied movements are present on the edges of the state, but have not taken significant actions, except for limited qualitative operations by special operations forces that have minimal impact and do not bring about any change in terms of territorial acquisition or pressure on the RSF to cease their violations.