Sudan Nashra: RSF launches drone campaign in Kordofan, Blue Nile, forces mass displacement | Clashes return to South Kordofan’s Dalang | Armed by RSF for Sudan battles, militias kill at least 169 in South Sudan, sources say | Rizeigat head leaves for Juba after Hemedti requests meeting amid tensions with RSF leadership

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The Rapid Support Forces launched drone campaigns in Kordofan and Blue Nile State this week, marked by successive, intensive rounds of strikes that largely targeted homes and public facilities, stopping short of causing mass casualties.

Officials in both North Kordofan’s Obeid and Blue Nile’s Kurmuk said the attacks were meant to frighten residents into flight.

In Kurmuk, attacks attributed to the RSF and the allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, displaced nearly 2,000 people over three days, according to government sources and residents.

Residents said drones hovered overhead for hours, vanishing and reappearing to strike in what a government official described as a strategy of “psychological attrition.” Markets and service facilities were hit, shutting down daily life.

In Obeid, residents endured five consecutive days of bombardment. Witnesses said RSF drones struck markets, medical facilities, residential areas and the University of Kordofan. On Tuesday, an electricity substation was hit, cutting power across the city, according to a local official.

South Kordofan’s Dalang also came under indiscriminate drone fire on Tuesday, as clashes resumed between the military and the RSF-SPLM-N (Hilu) forces. The renewed fighting broke out only weeks after the military lifted the years-long RSF-SPLM-N imposed siege of the city.

While SPLM-N said the allies’ forces made gains along the strategic Dalang-Kadugli road, military sources maintained that all assaults were repelled and military positions consolidated.

In Darfur, the RSF’s core political and recruitment base, tensions are surfacing between the paramilitary’s command and the region’s most powerful tribal authority.

Musa Madibo, head of the Rizeigat tribe, left East Darfur’s Daein for Juba on Friday as strains escalated with RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo and his brother and deputy commander Abdel Rahim Dagalo, who oversees security affairs in Darfur.

A source close to Madibo said tensions intensified after attacks by RSF elements targeted members of his family in early February and over objections to the RSF’s takeover of Mostariha from Mahamid tribal chief Musa Hilal last week. For Madibo, the source said, tribal codes governing such confrontations were bypassed.

Two sources in the Rizeigat tribal committees in Daein said senior tribal and military figures in the RSF intervened to prevent Madibo from leaving Darfur altogether — a move that could destabilize the region’s tribal landscape. Hemedti then requested a meeting, and Madibo subsequently traveled to Juba.

As head of Darfur’s largest tribal grouping and a central pillar of the RSF’s social base, any rupture with Madibo risks destabilizing not only the tribe’s ability to continue to recruit new soldiers, but could affect the internal cohesion of the paramilitary’s own ranks.

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Drone campaigns in Blue Nile border city force mass displacement

Drone strikes that Sudanese officials attributed to the RSF and a faction of the allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, have displaced nearly 2,000 people from Kurmuk in Blue Nile State between Thursday and Saturday, according to three government sources and residents who reached the state capital Damazin.

Officials said the strikes were carried out by the RSF and an SPLM-N faction under the command of Joseph Toka. Three residents told Mada Masr that they had seen heavy military movements by the two allied groups in the vicinity of Kurmuk prior to the attacks.

Three rounds of strikes have been carried out since Thursday, targeting neighborhoods, markets and public service facilities, the residents told Mada Masr. One civilian was killed and several others injured.

Situated along Sudan’s border with Ethiopia and close to South Sudan, Kurmuk lies on key trade and migration routes linking Sudan to the Horn of Africa. A government source in Blue Nile described it as a “geographic and security pivot point,” where control translates into influence over an extended border strip and potential supply corridors.

Residents said each drone campaign began with hours of persistent drone buzzing overhead, spreading panic. The first round of strikes came in the early hours of Thursday.

“It would circle, disappear, then suddenly return to strike. The children were screaming all night,” a man from a neighborhood near the city’s outskirts told Mada Masr. “After the third strike, there was no option but to leave. We gathered what we could carry and left before dawn.”

The rounds repeated twice again over the next two days, targeting near homes and civilian gathering points. “The message was clear: leave the city,” another resident said. “No one there feels safe anymore. Even those whose houses weren’t damaged decided to go, fearing the next strike.” 

Another man who fled Kurmuk said the attacks shut down daily life. When the market closes and the hospital can’t function, he said, displacement becomes inevitable.

Families traveled the 150-kilometer rugged road to Damazin in military trucks and private vehicles. Three hundred people transported by the military on Friday arrived at the Karama 2 camp in the state capital, according to the office of Kurmuk Governor Abdel Atty Mohamed al-Fiky. They joined around 1,600 others who had fled since the drone strikes began. Emergency shelter and basic services are being arranged, the governor’s office told Mada Masr, though conditions remain severely strained.

Three government officials described the strikes as a deliberate attempt to depopulate the city. 

A senior federal official said the attack was part of a strategy of “psychological attrition” against civilians, saying prolonged drone flights spread fear even without mass casualties. “Forcing residents to flee creates a security and social vacuum that can later be exploited,” he said.

Another government source in Blue Nile described the campaign as an effort to “forcibly alter the demographic composition through displacement.”

The new wave of displacement has added pressure to already overstretched state authorities grappling with weak basic services and scarce resources, a third government source said. The federal government, according to the source, is monitoring developments on the ground in coordination with security and humanitarian agencies. Efforts are under way to secure the city and prevent further attacks, including reinforcing the security presence around it, he said.

The strikes follow mounting tensions in the Kurmuk locality in February, when SPLM-N forces moved from areas along the Ethiopian border and attacked Dim Mansour and surrounding villages, movements a military source described at the time as preparation for a larger offensive on the city of Kurmuk.

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TSC official: Burhan looking to hold talks with Ethiopian PM over border developments

A senior official in the Transitional Sovereignty Council said its chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has recently sought to hold direct talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed over developments along the shared border. However, efforts to establish contact have so far failed.

Khartoum is closely monitoring the presence of RSF camps inside Ethiopian territory, the source said, cautioning that any logistical backing or cross-border facilitation by Addis Ababa would carry serious consequences.

On Monday, the Foreign Ministry said that it monitored drones entering Sudan from Ethiopian territory in February and March, warning Addis Ababa against “the repercussions of these hostile acts.”

The government, the official said, “reserves the right to take appropriate sovereign measures if the involvement of any regional actors in supporting hostile operations is proven.” Options under review include reassessing air transit arrangements, potentially barring Ethiopian airlines from Sudanese airspace should the situation escalate, according to the official.

A senior military officer previously told Mada Masr that intelligence services detected three camps set up inside Ethiopia where thousands of RSF and SPLM-N fighters are being trained and armed.

In mid-January, a military source in Damazin said RSF units had massed inside Ethiopian territory opposite the Yabus town and attempted to cross into Sudan to establish what the source described as a “buffer zone” aimed at securing supply routes.

By late January, a Sudanese security source told Mada Masr that RSF forces had been detected converging in SPLM-N camps in southern and southwestern Blue Nile, arriving from both Ethiopian territory and via East Darfur through South Sudan.

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Rizeigat tribe head leaves for Juba after Hemedti requests meeting in wake of Mostariha takeover

On Friday, Musa Madibo, the head of the Rizeigat tribe and a key pillar of the RSF’s link to Darfur’s social fabric, left the East Darfur capital of Daein, to attend a meeting with RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo amid mounting tension with the paramilitary group, two sources within the Rizeigat tribal committees in Daein told Mada Masr.

The visit deferred an initial plan by Madibo to relocate to Uganda amid escalating tensions with the RSF leadership, a move that may have upset tribal balances in Darfur.

No official statement accompanied Madibo’s departure. But three sources in Madibo’s advisory council told Mada Masr that it reflects mounting strain between tribal leadership and the RSF command, particularly Hemedti and his brother and deputy commander Abdel Rahim, who oversees security affairs in Darfur — the RSF’s primary base of recruitment and political control.

Madibo’s attempt to leave Darfur was intended as a symbolic act — a signal that he had been effectively pushed aside as head of the Rizieigat and a protest against the RSF’s handling of Darfur, according to a source close to Madibo and the three advisors.

Madibo is the most influential tribal authority in Darfur. He stands as a cornerstone of the RSF structure, as the social status he confers on the paramilitary group has been a major force in sustaining its capacity to mobilize. Despite the allure of money, material benefits and the division of spoils offered by the Dagalo leadership to attract thousands of recruits, the RSF’s main base remains tied to mobilization through tribes and tribal administrations. 

The Rizeigat make up the bulk of the RSF’s fighters, but Madibo’s authority carries greater weight among them than the paramilitary hierarchy, according to the four sources.

A decision by Madibo to leave Daein would place the RSF in a precarious position, as any rupture with him risks destabilizing not only the tribe’s ability to continue to recruit new soldiers, but could affect the internal cohesion of the paramilitary’s own ranks. If the crisis between the two sides develops into a rupture, a soldier in the RSF’s ranks would find himself torn between two forces: the power of the Dagalos, grounded in financial influence and material control, and the power of Madibo, rooted in traditional structures and historical legitimacy.

The source close to Madibo said tensions with Abdel Rahim had been building for weeks. The killing of a relative, the detention of his brother and a raid on his Daein residence in early February by RSF elements sharply eroded trust between the two sides, the source said.

Madibo also took issue with the RSF’s handling of last week’s assault on Mostariha in North Darfur. According to the source, certain tribal codes and customs should have governed any confrontation with Musa Hilal, as the chief of the Mahamid tribe. Instead, those norms were bypassed.

Last week, the RSF stormed and seized Mostariha, the stronghold of Hilal — the military-allied tribal leader and head of the Revolutionary Awakening Council armed group — following weeks of escalating tensions between Hilal and the Dagalo brothers. Dozens were killed, including Hilal’s son, and hundreds were displaced, according to local and military sources.

The two sources in the Rizeigat tribal committees said Madibo had initially planned to relocate to Uganda before senior tribal and military figures within the RSF intervened. The rising friction between him and the Dagalo family prompted Hemedti to reach out directly and request a meeting, according to one of the sources. Madibo subsequently arrived in Juba, where he is staying at the residence of politician James Aqweir, the source said.

The Rizeigat, the largest tribal grouping in Darfur, forms part of the region’s Arab pastoralist communities. It is divided between the Abbala, or camel-herding branch centered largely in North Darfur, and the Baggara, the cattle-herding branch concentrated in South and East Darfur. Within these branches are several sub-tribes — including the Mahamid and the Mahariya, to which the Dagalo family belong. The tribe’s structure is complex and depends on balances between geographic centers and clan-based affiliations.

As the tribe’s head, Madibo carries considerable symbolic and social authority, an informed source from the Rizeigat said. Any tension between him and the RSF leadership reverberates directly through the balance between the tribe and the paramilitary force, with implications for the future relationship between traditional tribal structures and military authority in Darfur, according to the source.

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Armed by RSF for Sudan battles, militias attack South Sudan’s Ruweng border, at least 169 killed, sources say

An armed assault in the early hours of Sunday killed at least 169 people in the Ruweng Administrative Area of northern South Sudan, close to the Sudanese border. Militias attacked Abiemnom county at about 4:30 am, striking residents in their homes and killing local officials alongside dozens of civilians.

James Monyluak Mijok, Ruweng’s information minister, said the attackers had entered from neighboring Unity state, which borders West Kordofan in Sudan.

According to a government official in Unity and a resident in West Kordofan, the attackers are affiliated with groups that had received weapons from the RSF to fight in Kordofan and earlier in Khartoum. Those same fighters, the sources told Mada Masr, continued to engage in widespread attacks and looting along the northern border.

According to a South Sudanese medical source, the Ruweng attack’s death toll includes 90 people, among them children, women and elderly, as well as 79 members of government forces and police who attempted to fend off the attack. A South Sudanese military source attributed the heavy losses among security personnel to the attackers’ superior numbers and firepower. Senior county officials, including the commissioner and executive director, were among those killed.

Fighting continued for nearly four hours, leaving widespread destruction in its wake, according to a South Sudanese government source and a local resident. The attackers set fire to homes and markets before government forces regained control and pursued the retreating fighters. Around 50 wounded people were transferred to Abyei for treatment.

South Sudanese officials said the attackers are linked to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition, but a source in the group, speaking to Mada Masr, denied the opposition’s involvement.

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Clashes, drone strikes return to Dalang as RSF-SPLM-N forces launch successive attacks

Clashes broke out this week around Dalang in South Kordofan, as fighting resumed between the military and the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, weeks after the military lifted the city’s years-long RSF-SPLM-N imposed siege. 

A military source told Mada Masr that on Sunday, RSF-SPLM-N forces launched a coordinated attack from the north, west and east of the city. According to the source, the fighting lasted nearly five hours before the military pushed back the attackers, killing several fighters and destroying or capturing combat vehicles and motorcycles.

However, statements issued by the SPLM-N (Hilu) on Sunday and Monday said that the allies seized the Kiga Garro and Kuweik garrisons, along with the Katma area on the strategic Dalang-Kadugli road.

RSF and SPLM-N forces again targeted areas along the road on Tuesday, the military source said, but maintained that the offensive was repelled.

Mohamed Didan, the spokesperson for the military’s special operations forces in West Kordofan, said the military consolidated its positions in Takma and Taqato along the strategic road following the clashes. Reinforcements and equipment sent in recent weeks to Dalang’s 54th Brigade and Kadugli’s 14th Infantry Division, he added, have strengthened both defensive and offensive capabilities.

Civilians, meanwhile, bore the brunt of the renewed fighting. An activist in Dalang told Mada Masr that the neighborhoods of Marafid, Kajang, Mak and Hilla al-Gadeeda were subjected to indiscriminate drone attacks on Tuesday, leaving homes and shops damaged.

The renewed violence comes just weeks after the military broke through a two-year joint RSF-SPLM-N siege of Dalang in late January. The following week, it lifted the siege on Kadugli and reopened the road linking the two cities. In both instances, drone strikes followed almost immediately after the sieges were lifted.

The prolonged sieges of Dalang and Kadugli had already driven both cities into humanitarian collapse. In November, the global authority on food security declared famine in Kadugli. Conditions in Dalang were believed to be similarly dire, but the lack of data prevented a classification.

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Obeid under days-long RSF drone attacks

The RSF’s drone campaign expanded to Obeid, North Kordofan’s capital, where residents faced five consecutive days of bombardment from Friday to Tuesday. A local official told Mada Masr that markets, hospitals, residential areas and some military sites were targeted.

In the early hours of Tuesday, RSF drones struck the city’s electricity substation, cutting power to the city, the official said. An oncology treatment center was also shelled.

The previous day, an attack on the British Hospital left 12 people injured, including five medical workers who were on duty, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.

Three witnesses told Mada Masr that the first wave of strikes on Friday hit lecture halls at the University of Kordofan, as well as the pharmaceutical supply center and a private residence in the Riyad al-Salehin neighborhood.

A senior military officer told Mada Masr that air defenses intercepted two strategic drones on Monday, along with several suicide drones in recent days.

According to the officer, the sustained drone campaign is aimed at spreading fear among residents, forcing displacement and eroding public confidence in the military’s ability to protect the city.

He added that the RSF might attempt a ground assault on positions along the northern or western outskirts of Obeid, and said that the military stands prepared.

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