Sudan Nashra: RSF, SPLM-N drive new escalation in Kordofan | Displacement waves from Fasher reach Northern State | Egypt’s FM in Port Sudan to discuss govt response to ceasefire proposal | Activist tried for insulting Burhan, lawyers raise alarm over growing persecution

With the prospect of a ceasefire and potential humanitarian relief coming to besieged cities in South Kordofan and West Kordofan, the RSF is making a push this week to take Dalang and Babanusa.

Dalang is already reeling from a two year-long siege jointly imposed by the RSF and its ally, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu. Babanusa, meanwhile, has been emptied of its residents after two years of relentless military operations.

Civilians bore the brunt of the recent attacks on Dalang, which struck the city’s main hospital and residential neighborhoods, killing six people and injuring several others.

According to a field source, the RSF, in coordination with SPLM-N, has been amassing fighters and vehicles around the city, advancing to positions just 10 kilometers from central Dalang. Residents fear an imminent raid that could bring a repeat of the atrocities witnessed in Fasher.

For now, the military continues to hold its ground, while launching a broad aerial campaign targeting RSF positions across Kordofan and in South Darfur’s Nyala — the seat of the RSF-led parallel government headed by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, with Hilu serving as deputy head.

The escalation in Kordofan comes amid a military push in the region following the fall of Fasher to the RSF, and growing international pressure on parties to the war to accept a US-led humanitarian ceasefire proposal presented in Cairo last week, as the two sides scramble to consolidate control in the region beforehand.

While the RSF announced its agreement to the plan — even as it opened new fronts on the ground — Sudan’s Security and Defense Council met to introduce its own amendments. A Foreign Ministry source told Mada Masr that Khartoum’s response was subsequently submitted to Washington and Cairo.

According to the source, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty’s visit to Port Sudan on Tuesday aimed to discuss this response with senior Sudanese officials.

But armed movements continue to signal their rejection of the proposal, insisting instead on pursuing a military resolution. A Justice and Equality Movement source told Mada Masr that the groups “do not reject a truce in principle,” but “will not allow Darfur to be handed over to the RSF as spoils of war.” Darfur Governor and Sudan Liberation Movement leader Minni Arko Minnawi echoed this stance at a gathering this week, announcing that their forces are preparing to deploy to Darfur.

In Fasher, uncertainty deepens. Essential services have collapsed, communications are down and hospitals have stopped receiving patients. With nearby displacement destinations also failing, families are now embarking on a perilous 700-kilometer journey northward to Dabba in Northern State. A government source there told Mada Masr that around 10,000 people have arrived since the city’s fall.

***

RSF, SPLM-N drive new escalation in South, West Kordofan

 

Talk of a potential ceasefire has not slowed the ferocity in Sudan. In the last week, the RSF and its ally the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu have made new pushes in key areas in the South Kordofan and West Kordofan states. 

The two areas that have seen escalating tension — including artillery shelling, troop surges and intensified attacks on city outskirts — in recent days are Dalang and Babanusa, both of which have long been under RSF siege. The RSF-SPLM-N push comes as the prospect of a three month ceasefire could alleviate the humanitarian suffering in the cities, thereby undoing much of the pressure that the RSF’s protracted siege tactics have enforced.  

In the South Kordofan city of Dalang, residents told Mada Masr they expect that the city could face a major assault in the coming days.

Dalang — the second-largest city in South Kordofan — has been under a joint RSF-SPLM-N siege since late 2023 aimed at capturing the city and the 14th Infantry Division’s 154th Brigade headquarters.

On Friday, six civilians were killed and several others injured, including four women, when RSF artillery fire struck Dalang’s main hospital and several residential areas, a medical source told Mada Masr.

The shelling destroyed the hospital’s x-ray department and caused extensive damage to other parts of the facility, the source said. 

World Health Organization General Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the attack, confirming the deaths of six patients and companions, including a 12-year-old child, and injuries to 12 others.

A senior local figure in Dalang told Mada Masr that Friday's bombardment also hit the neighborhoods of Radif, Malakiyya, Agouz, Qaar al-Hagar, Hilla, Kajank and the central market. Shelling continued the following day in Malakiyya and Radif, destroying at least six homes.

On Saturday, authorities restored access to Starlink satellite internet after a two-day blackout, allowing residents to contact relatives abroad. A resident told Mada Masr that the military said it suspended the service because it detected communications from within the city with SPLM-N forces.

The latest assaults have only deepened the dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged city, where residents are already facing acute shortages of food and medicine.

According to a field source, RSF and SPLM-N forces had earlier in the week amassed large numbers of troops and armored vehicles around Dalang — in Takma and the village of Khamis to the east, Farshaya, Sanjkaya and Kadr to the north, and Hegeirat and Abu Seiba to the west — with further deployments in the Salara rural area to the southwest.

The RSF, in coordination with SPLM-N, advanced to positions just 10 kilometers from central Dalang, the source said, warning that the city could witness decisive and fierce battles in the coming days.

Concerns are mounting over potential atrocities similar to those seen in Fasher, amid escalating tribal tensions around Dalang’s eastern and northern outskirts, a resident of the city told Mada Masr. These areas, they said, are under threat from pro-RSF groups from the Hawazma tribe.

In neighboring West Kordofan, the military said on Sunday that it repelled a large-scale RSF attack on its stronghold in Babanusa — the last major city in the state still under the military’s control. 

The 22nd Infantry Division stated that RSF forces had launched the attack at dawn using drones and artillery, but said the military responded with a counterstrike, killing RSF field commander Mohamed Saleh along with several of his fighters.

Following the battle, the division’s soldiers posted videos showing them patrolling Babanusa and its military bases, while RSF fighters released videos vowing to continue their offensive.

The city’s emergency room described it as “a ghost town,” stating that the entire population of 177,000 have been displaced after nearly two years of military operations.

A former military officer told Mada Masr that the battle in Babanusa is at a stage where the RSF is “testing the military’s defenses,” predicting further escalation in the area, but expressed confidence in the military’s ability to hold its ground and exhaust the RSF. The officer noted that Babanusa lies within the military’s Kordofan drone zone, providing a tactical advantage in targeting RSF positions.

Two military sources said that the air force has continued strikes on RSF positions across West and North Kordofan, as well as in Nyala, South Darfur.

One of the sources said the air force targeted Nyala International Airport on Monday, striking as a cargo plane they said was supplying the RSF landed, causing large explosions. 

The second source said drone strikes the same day hit an ammunition depot and RSF gathering sites in Ghobeish, West Kordofan.

In North Kordofan, air defenses shot down an RSF drone as it entered Obeid’s airspace on Saturday. Footage shared online captured the drone’s crash, while soldiers recorded videos beside the wreckage.

An intelligence source told Mada Masr that new anti-drone and jamming systems have been activated in Obeid to counter expected aerial threats, noting that similar drones had been downed in previous weeks.

The downed drone, the source said, was a Chinese-made CH-95, used for reconnaissance, surveillance and air-to-ground attacks, as well as artillery fire correction.

Military air defenses also intercepted RSF suicide drones on Friday targeting military sites in Omdurman in Khartoum State, Atbara in River Nile State and Merowe in the Northern State, eyewitnesses told Mada Masr.

***

Fasher in the dark, displacement waves reach Northern State

 

Uncertainty looms over the future of civilian administration in Fasher, with no clear announcements yet on how governance or public security will be managed under RSF control.

Residents describe scenes of chaos and paralysis following the RSF takeover of the city and surrounding villages. Three witnesses told Mada Masr that shops are shuttered, major roads deserted and those who stayed are too afraid to venture out of their homes amid reports of looting and abuses in several neighborhoods after the city’s fall.

Essential services such as water and electricity remain almost entirely cut off. Hospitals have stopped admitting patients, according to a medical source in the city, with the exception of the Saudi Maternity Hospital, which continues to operate at limited capacity with a small medical team. Hundreds of injured, mostly civilians, remain without access to adequate care, the source said.

Communication networks are still down across much of Fasher, while all Starlink devices have been confiscated and are now operated by RSF personnel in exchange for fees.

Conditions in areas hosting the newly displaced are dire.

In Tawila — under the control of Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Nur and already home to tens of thousands displaced by earlier fighting in Darfur — four local aid workers described severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, warning of potential disease outbreaks amid the collapse of basic infrastructure. Humanitarian organizations, they said, are struggling to deliver relief convoys due to the deteriorating security situation.

Three sources who fled to Tawila said that RSF fighters have begun returning hundreds of displaced people attempting to leave Fasher at the city’s exit points. Troops told them that they were acting on orders from RSF deputy commander Abdel Rahim Dagalo and that civilians were required to comply with higher directives.

However, an RSF source in the group’s western command denied the existence of any such order. The RSF, they said, was currently focused on “providing basic services and reopening civilian institutions” under the supervision of a local committee, insisting that civilians were not being prevented from leaving the city.

Alongside displacement toward Tawila, a growing number of families are moving north toward the city of Dabba in Northern State — a journey of 700 kilometers through perilous desert routes. A local government source told Mada Masr that Dabba has already received around 10,000 displaced people from Fasher.

Until recently, Dabba hosted only a small number of people displaced from Darfur, but it is now witnessing an unprecedented influx, with new arrivals reported daily, the source said. The local community has built three camps to accommodate the arrivals, but the rapid increase in numbers requires additional tents and equipment, they added.

On Saturday, Burhan visited displacement centers in Dabba to inspect the conditions of civilians, a source in the TSC said.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) expressed grave concern over reports of crimes committed by RSF forces against civilians in Fasher. “Such crimes, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” the office stated. 

The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed during the conflict in Darfur, the office said, confirming that it is investigating alleged crimes in the region since the outbreak of hostilities in April 2023.

***

Egypt’s FM in Port Sudan to discuss govt response to ceasefire proposal, armed groups signal rejection 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty is in Port Sudan for talks with senior officials to discuss Khartoum’s response to the humanitarian ceasefire proposal put forward by the US, with Egypt’s backing, in Cairo last week, a source in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told Mada Masr.

According to the source, the response was submitted to both Egypt and the US following the Security and Defense Council’s meeting on November 5. 

While the international community awaits Khartoum’s final decision, the RSF announced on Thursday that they had agreed to the plan.

The RSF said its decision came “in response to the aspirations and interests of the Sudanese people,” and expressed readiness to implement the agreement and immediately begin talks on arrangements for a cessation of hostilities and the fundamental principles guiding Sudan’s political process.

The Security and Defense Council meeting, chaired by military Commander-in-Chief and Transitional Sovereignty Council Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, discussed the military’s terms and proposed amendments to the US-led ceasefire initiative. 

Following the meeting, Defense Minister Hassan Dawoud Kabron, while thanking the US for the efforts, said in a press statement that the council called for “continued mobilization efforts to eliminate the rebel militia.”

The US-led proposal, which came in the wake of the brutal fall of Fasher to the RSF, begins with a three-month humanitarian ceasefire, during which negotiations would be held to reach a comprehensive truce and launch a political dialogue between the Transitional Sovereignty Council, the RSF and representatives of all Sudanese forces with the aim of forming a joint executive authority to resume the political process during a three-year transition, two Egyptian government sources previously told Mada Masr.

A diplomatic source told Mada Masr that the government is still working to align its position with the American proposal. Communication channels with both Washington and Cairo remain open, the source said, but emphasized that Khartoum “will not enter into any ceasefire that grants the RSF political privileges,” particularly amid what it views as the Quad and the international community’s failure to condemn the RSF’s actions.

The office of Darfur governor Minni Arko Minnawi told Mada Masr that state leaders — including the military, signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement and the government — may agree on a particular framework for the truce, one that incorporates the binding provisions of the May 2023 Jeddah agreement and includes guarantees that no military support will be provided to the RSF. “The UAE must first stop its aircraft that bring death to Sudanese people,” the office said. “Only then can we talk about a humanitarian ceasefire.”

A source from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Mada Masr that the government has not closed the door to engagement with external actors, including Egypt and the US, and is awaiting replies to the guarantees it requested. “The armed movements do not reject a truce in principle,” the source said, “but we will not allow Darfur to be handed over to the RSF as spoils of war.”

At a Monday gathering at the Shagara military base in southern Khartoum — attended by military assistant Commander-in-Chief Yasser al-Atta, JEM advisor Abdel Aziz Oshr and Minnawi — Atta dismissed the US-led Quad’s initiative, declaring that their response is “bal bas,” a slogan among military supporters signaling commitment to a military resolution and rejection of negotiations. Minnawi called Atta the “chief of the bal bas folks” and announced that their forces would soon be heading to Darfur.

A senior source in the TSC told Mada Masr that military and armed movement leaders remain in continuous talks over the ceasefire proposal. The armed groups’ concerns are the same as those of the military, the source said, stressing that ongoing military operations in several areas demonstrate that these discussions have not affected the progress of combat operations.

***

Activist tried for insulting Burhan, lawyers raise alarm over growing persecution

A court in Kassala, eastern Sudan, on Thursday, convicted activist Khaled Idris on charges of insulting Transitional Sovereignty Council Chair and military Commander-in-Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, following remarks he made during a public rally in the Hadalya area in May.

The court ruled that Idris’s comments constituted a direct insult to the head of state and a threat to his authority, sentencing him under provisions of the penal code related to “undermining the military or political authority.”

Lawyer Abdallah Ali, speaking to Mada Masr, warned that “Idris’s case could open the door to expanding charges against him to include collaboration with the RSF, as has happened in previous cases where an initial insult accusation evolved into a security case.” Ali noted that prosecutors have often linked political activism in eastern or northern Sudan to alleged ties with the RSF, despite scant material evidence.

The case dates back to May, when Idris took part in a public meeting organized by youth groups in Hadalya. During his address, he made statements directly threatening Burhan, saying he would “put him under his shoe” if Burhan circumvented the local tribal leadership. Following these remarks, official complaints were filed against Idris with the public prosecutor, leading to a legal process that culminated in last week’s verdict. The court ruled that Idris’s words exceeded the bounds of free expression and amounted to an explicit insult to the head of state.

The ruling sparked widespread reactions among Sudanese political and human rights circles. Three civil society activists in Kassala described the verdict as part of a continuing pattern of restrictions on public freedoms and persecution of the opposition.

The case comes amid a broader escalation of legal action against journalists and activists over recent years. In 2020, the military announced a campaign of legal proceedings against what it described as “activists and media figures who insult the military and its institutions,” saying such measures were aimed at “protecting the prestige and standing of the armed forces.”

Idris’s defense team argued that Sudanese law contains no explicit provision criminalizing insults to state figures. However, authorities often resort to “adapt” other legal articles — such as Article 51, which criminalizes “undermining the constitutional order,” or those addressing “weakening the prestige of the state” — to justify convictions.

Three legal experts told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that this broad interpretation of the law undermines the right to free expression, violating both the constitution and international conventions ratified by Sudan.

The case also comes at a time when the Sudanese judiciary has increasingly been used to target opponents and activists under charges such as “insulting state symbols” or “collaborating with the RSF.” While the two charges differ in nature and the severity of punitive measures, both reflect a concerted effort to restrict civil liberties and suppress political opposition.

A source at the Justice Ministry told Mada Masr that the charge of insulting the head of state is legally based on the authorities’ assessment of speech or statements deemed offensive or inciting, typically interpreted through Article 51 of the penal code on undermining the constitutional order.

By contrast, collaboration with the RSF — classified as a crime against national security and considered the most serious charge under Sudanese law — carries far harsher penalties. It encompasses any form of material or logistical support for the paramilitary group, or even just communication with it, with punishments that can include life imprisonment or the death penalty, as the law treats it as an act of treason or collusion with a group fighting the state.

A lawyer on Idris’s defense team, speaking to Mada Masr, emphasized the key distinction between the two offenses. Insulting the head of state concerns freedom of expression and political criticism, whereas collaboration with the RSF involves a concrete act or direct association with an armed group.

However, some legal experts argue that the authorities have blurred the line between these categories, expanding the definition of both charges to include mere expressions of opinion. This, they say, renders the boundary between the two charges ambiguous in practice.

Lawyer Tarek al-Tayeb told Mada Masr that “the Sudanese judiciary now uses vague legal provisions to frame accusations, so that a political speech or a social media post can be treated as a national security crime.” The distinction between insult and collaboration, he said, is “disappearing in a political climate where criticism is criminalized and disagreement is treated as a threat to security.”

Since last year, Sudanese courts — both military and civilian — have issued a series of severe sentences in similar cases. More than 150 defendants have been charged with collaborating with the RSF, with several receiving prison terms or death sentences.