Sudan Nashra: RSF kills dozens in southern Omdurman | Burhan meets Saudi crown prince, says RSF must surrender | RSF deputy commander vows to invade northern Sudan | Military seizes RSF stockpiles in Khartoum

The military’s takeover of Khartoum — the second of the three capital cities to fall completely under its control after Bahri — last week continues to shape the country’s political, diplomatic and military landscape as the war nears its second anniversary.

Diplomatically, Transitional Sovereignty Council Chair and military Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca just two days after the military retook the presidential palace in Khartoum. The visit comes after Sudanese and Saudi officials convened in Port Sudan to discuss the country’s reconstruction efforts.

During his talks with the crown prince, Burhan insisted that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) must either surrender or face continued fighting until peace is forced on it, a sovereignty council source familiar with the visit told Mada Masr. Burhan also outlined the latest military developments and the intention to form a civilian government. The crown prince, in turn, stressed the importance of preserving Sudan’s territorial integrity and stability, particularly given the volatile situation in the region.

On the humanitarian front, as the RSF retreated westward into Omdurman following the military’s victory in Khartoum, its fighters attempted to loot villages of the Gamuia tribe in southern Omdurman. When met with resistance, they launched retaliatory attacks, killing over 50 people, according to two local sources. While some villages managed to push back, many residents were forced to flee.

Despite the violence against civilians, the Sudanese military did not cross the western bank of the White Nile via the Jebel Awliya Dam Bridge to intervene, one of the sources said.

Militarily, clashes broke out in Libya Market, the RSF’s largest stronghold in western Omdurman. Control over the area has shifted repeatedly between the two sides, turning it into an open battlefield. A military source told Mada Masr that the armed forces deployed significant reinforcements to decisively end the battle.

Meanwhile, in Khartoum, the military said it seized large stockpiles of combat equipment hidden in civilian homes across the city, including drones, advanced jamming devices and tanks.

The RSF’s defeat in Khartoum has reverberated in Darfur. On Wednesday, RSF Deputy Commander Abdel Rahim Dagalo vowed to launch attacks on northern Sudan, saying that failing to do so earlier in the war had been a mistake. RSF drones simultaneously struck Atbara Airport in the Nile River State, causing extensive damage.

Across the southern border, tensions remain high in South Sudan following the house arrest of First Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar. Concerns are mounting that the country could slide back into civil war, reigniting the conflict that ravaged it between 2013 and 2018.

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Battles in Libya Market, RSF kills dozens in southern Omdurman

Following its full takeover of Khartoum last week, the military shifted its battles to western Omdurman, targeting the last remaining RSF pockets in the capital state. Meanwhile, RSF fighters retreating from Khartoum to southern Omdurman launched attacks on the villages of the Gamuia tribe, killing more than 50 people.

Clashes erupted early Saturday in Libya Market, one of the RSF’s largest strongholds in western Omdurman. The area serves as a key assembly point and logistical hub for RSF operations, as well as a launch site for its attacks on northern Omdurman.

Fighting broke out at dawn, a field source told Mada Masr, with the military advancing deep into the market, freeing detainees, and inflicting heavy losses on RSF troops. However, the RSF regrouped, reinforced its ranks with fighters from other areas, and launched a counteroffensive that stalled the military’s progress, forcing it to retreat from some of the areas it had seized.

Both sides continued to launch back and forth offensives with neither establishing full control, the source said. The military, along with the General Intelligence Service and Central Reserve Police, has deployed reinforcements to the area, aiming to launch coordinated attacks on RSF positions and reclaim territory in western Omdurman, according to the source. 

In southern Omdurman, RSF fighters fleeing Khartoum through the Jebel Awliya area carried out brutal attacks on Gamuia villages. A local source told Mada Masr that villagers resisted widespread looting by RSF fighters, prompting retaliatory violence that left over 50 civilians dead and homes destroyed.

Journalist Megahed Youssef, from the Gamuia villages, told Mada Masr that the situation in southern Omdurman is unstable, accusing the RSF of committing severe violations against civilians.

According to Youssef, clashes broke out on Monday between residents of the Samra Hajj al-Taher village and RSF fighters. The following day, the RSF launched further attacks on the villages of Issawi, Baraka al-Gharbiya and Wadi al-Sodair, killing 20 people and injuring several others.

RSF fighters stormed the villages to loot property but met resistance from locals armed with Kalashnikovs and light weapons, Youssef said. In response, the RSF deployed heavy weaponry and combat vehicles. While residents managed to push the paramilitary forces out of some areas, the region remains under threat, he added. 

Despite the escalating violence, the military has yet to cross the Jebel Awliya Dam Bridge in pursuit of retreating RSF fighters or intervene from any other direction to protect civilians, Youssef noted. Thousands of villagers have fled on foot toward Khartoum, fearing further attacks. 

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Military seizes RSF stockpiles in Khartoum

On Tuesday , the military said it seized substantial RSF military equipment stockpiles in Khartoum. A military source told Mada Masr that combing and search operations uncovered a significant cache of weapons and ammunition left behind by RSF fighters who retreated from the city. Among the seized items were advanced jamming systems and high-quality drones, according to the source

Most of the weapons were found in civilian homes, the source said. In the Bagir area in southern Khartoum, the military seized around 12 fully equipped tanks, along with many howitzers and mortars, according to the source.

In a video released by the military, they showcased what they described as spoils from the battles to retake Khartoum, including armored vehicles, artillery, various weapons and ammunition, as well as jamming devices and drones, which the military said had been used against civilians.

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Burhan to Saudi crown prince: RSF must surrender or face continued fighting 

Two days after the military seized the presidential palace in Khartoum on March 26 — quickly followed by control of the entire city — Burhan traveled to Saudi Arabia for talks with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca. 

During the talks, the two leaders agreed to establish a joint coordination council. 

Burhan’s visit came after a meeting between technical committees from both countries in Port Sudan, which assessed the situation in Khartoum and Sudan’s war-affected states.

A Traditional Sovereignty Council source familiar with Burhan’s visit told Mada Masr that the discussions with the Saudi crown prince covered the military’s ongoing campaigns, plans to form a civilian government and Saudi Arabia’s role in supporting Sudan’s stability and institutions.

Bin Salman stressed the importance of preserving Sudan’s territorial unity and maintaining the stability of the state, particularly given the challenges currently facing the region, the source said.

Burhan reiterated the necessity of implementing the 2023 Jeddah Agreement, asserting that the group has no option but to surrender or face continued military operations until peace is imposed on them, according to the source.

Following the talks, the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced the formation of a joint coordination council to enhance bilateral relations. A diplomatic source in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told Mada Masr that the council would focus on continued cooperation between Sudan and Saudi Arabia in key sectors, including energy, infrastructure and health.

Another diplomatic source said that Burhan is set to visit other allied countries — though the source declined to specify which — to strengthen ties and explore new paths for collaboration with countries that can offer mutual benefits.

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Tensions escalate in South Sudan as opposition leader is placed under house arrest

The house arrest of South Sudan’s First Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar last week and a string of unilateral moves by President Salva Kiir has deepened the country’s spiraling political crisis that regional actors are now scrambling to contain amid growing fears of a return to civil war.

The fast-moving developments in recent weeks follow years of fragile peace since the 2018 agreement that ended a brutal five-year conflict between Kiir and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by Machar. The conflict killed over 400,000 South Sudanese. 

On Wednesday, the African Union’s Panel of the Wise dispatched a high-level delegation to Juba in an attempt to bring the parties to the agreement back to the negotiating table. The following day, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni arrived for talks with Kiir. Kampala has held considerable sway in South Sudan since its independence in 2011. 

Weeks before Museveni’s visit, Uganda deployed troops to Juba to protect Kiir and secure the city following a surge in violence between opposition-allied militias and government forces. 

But the SPLM-IO strongly objected to Uganda’s growing political and military role, warning it could dismantle the peace deal altogether. 

Despite the peace deal, tensions between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan’s political scene for decades, have remained high. 

A former leader in the South Sudanese armed forces told Mada Masr that Machar’s house arrest amounts to a declaration of war, threatening the peace agreement.

Lual Dau, the spokesperson for the opposition Unified People’s Alliance, told Mada Masr that the peace agreement has not been truly implemented due to a lack of good faith on all sides, claiming only about 10 percent of its provisions were fulfilled — only establishing a government and state institutions. He argued that the parties were preparing for war and aiming to upend the deal’s security arrangements while negotiating peace. 

According to Dau, Kiir’s government is attempting to unilaterally reshape the peace agreement, consolidating power and imposing new security measures to benefit its own interest. 

Dau also criticized Kiir’s governance, describing his “daily” decisions as poorly thought out and ultimately leading to failure, with full control over the country falling to him without a clear political vision or a coherent program. He pointed out recent unilateral appointments, which he called unconstitutional and illegal, adding that no one in the political or military spheres dares to challenge the president’s decisions.

Kiir has recently made changes to the ministries of defense and interior, reduced the powers of Machar’s oil minister, and transferred executive duties to a ministry official loyal to him, Dau said. Kiir also dismissed the governors of the Western Equatoria and Upper Nile states and the health minister without consulting the political groups that had nominated them for government positions. 

Dau said that developments such as the capture of Nasir County by the Machar-affiliated White Army militia last month could be repeated across the country, warning that without international and regional intervention and genuine peace talks focused on state-building rather than political positions, the country is headed toward “total collapse.”

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From the Chadian border, Abdel Rahim Dagalo threatens to invade northern Sudan

RSF Deputy Commander Abdel Rahim Dagalo vowed on Wednesday to invade northern Sudan just days after the group's forces suffered a major blow in Khartoum.

Addressing a group of 20,000 mobilized fighters arriving from Chad and Libya to Darfur, Dagalo said that not attacking northern Sudan earlier in the war was a “mistake,” adding that they will reclaim all lost territory, particularly Khartoum. 

Dagalo admitted that the RSF should have focused on the Northern and Nile River states from the outset, vowing to take the paramilitary's combat operations to both states.

According to two sources within the RSF, Dagalo traveled to southeastern Chad after the Nairobi conference in February, where he received military reinforcements from areas in Central Africa, which the sources declined to disclose. He also held meetings in South Darfur's Nyala, where he overhauled the western sector’s leadership. 

Abdel Rahim appointed Abdel Rahman Jumaa as head of operations in central Sudan, an RSF field source told Mada Masr. Jumaa was one of the figures responsible for the 2023 massacres in West Darfur’s Geneina, for which he was subsequently sanctioned. 

In an unprecedented escalation coinciding with Abdel Rahim’s speech, RSF drones attacked Atbara Airport in the River Nile State with guided missiles, causing damage to several civilian facilities within it, eyewitnesses told Mada Masr.