Sudan Nashra: ‘Supply lines war’ erupts in Darfur desert | Multi-front military offensive in Khartoum, Gezira ‘imminent’

While Fasher, North Darfur’s capital, has been the epicenter of recent battles in Sudan's 15-month-long conflict, a new front has opened in North Darfur’s desert, bordering Libya and Chad. The military-allied joint force of armed movements is fighting against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a bid to cut off supply lines to the Zurug military base, the RSF’s largest stronghold. 

In the tri-city capital of Khartoum, fighting has resumed around the Armored Corps and the ammunition industrial complex in the Shagara military area, south of Khartoum city, for the first time in several weeks.  Meanwhile, Armed Forces Assistant Commander-in-Chief Yasser al-Atta has declared that there will be no ceasefire or truce agreements, and that the military is actively seeking to break the siege on the General Command headquarters and central Khartoum. 

A senior military source told Mada Masr that the armed forces have deployed reinforcements to the Shagara military area via the White Nile, in preparation for an offensive in Khartoum. The offensive is expected to advance via the White Nile and Fatehab bridges in the Omdurman military zone, which houses the Engineers Corps and other key military strongholds. 

In Gezira State, the military have amassed significant reinforcements, deploying 150 armored vehicles in the Managil axis to the west. A military source told Mada Masr that a simultaneous military offensive in the state is expected to commence soon and will take advantage of the fact that the RSF has redirected a significant number of their troops toward Fasher.  

In Gezira, where the RSF has controlled wide swaths of the state since December, the paramilitary force continues to commit violations against civilians. On Tuesday, RSF fighters raided the town of Huda, killing over 10 civilians before the military regained control later that day. 

Politically, the diplomatic war between Sudan and the United Arab Emirates has escalated in the United Nations Security Council during a session on Tuesday. Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss, reiterated his country’s accusations against the UAE of supplying the RSF with weapons and presented new evidence to support these claims, which he then called on the Security Council to review. A Sudanese diplomat told Mada Masr that Sudan will persist in its diplomatic campaign against the UAE. 

***

Renewed clashes at the Armored Corps 

On Monday, clashes between the Sudanese military and the RSF erupted in southern Khartoum, around the Armored Corps, after a lull of several weeks that saw the military extend its presence into neighborhoods surrounding its key stronghold in the capital.

The military stated that it launched a preemptive strike against RSF troops, resulting in the deaths of dozens of the paramilitary’s soldiers, the destruction of an armored vehicle, and the expulsion of RSF fighters from civilian property.

The following day, the RSF regrouped and launched an assault on the ammunition industrial complex in the Shagara military area. According to a field source who spoke to Mada Masr, both sides incurred casualties and equipment losses, while the military captured several RSF fighters. 

The source said that the armed forces employed drones and guided artillery launched from the Wadi Sidna Air Base in the Karrari military area in northern Omdurman to target advancing RSF troops near the industrial complex, thwarting the attack before a sandstorm halted the fighting.

Soldiers in the Shagara military area, located south of Khartoum and home to the Armored Corps and the ammunition industrial complex on the eastern bank of the White Nile, have repelled over 80 RSF attacks, the most intense of which took place in August.

An informed military source told Mada Masr that the armed forces’ units in the Armored Corps had largely vacated their posts months ago to avoid artillery strikes, redeploying instead to nearby neighborhoods (namely Gabra, Shagara, Yathrib, Lamab, and Azozab) where they set up advanced defenses. Meanwhile, the RSF shares control of these same areas, engaging in limited skirmishes with military defenses.

A senior military officer told Mada Masr that the RSF's recent assault on Shagara was a tactical move intended to prevent the Armored Corps forces from expanding and to boost morale in the paramilatay’s ranks with any victory.

The officer noted that RSF media footage of the attack highlighted issues such as a clear shortage of ammunition and poor combat tactics, as evidenced by the way RSF troops gathered and moved. The footage also showed an insufficient number of RPG-armed soldiers needed for an assault on a military camp, suggesting the attack was aimed more at creating propaganda than capturing the ammunition camp in Shagara, the officer said. 

In a speech to officers and soldiers in the Omdurman military area on Sunday, Atta emphasized that the military’s capabilities had vastly improved since the start of the war. He announced that the forces would soon advance toward the military’s General Command headquarters in central Khartoum to join the forces stationed there.

The military officer told Mada Masr that Atta's announcement of an advance toward the General Command is logical, given the favorable outcomes of the military’s siege strategy around Khartoum in recent months. The strategy has significantly disrupted RSF supply operations and lowered its troops’ morale, especially after the defeats they suffered in Fasher and Darfur at large. "It is natural for the military to prepare for an invasion sooner or later," the officer said. 

Another military source at the Wadi Sidna Air Base told Mada Masr that the armed forces have already sent reinforcements of soldiers and weapons to the Armored Corps in Khartoum via the White Nile to strengthen defenses and prepare for a northward advance toward the RSF-controlled Strategic Brigade camp, located directly east of the Fatehab bridge on Khartoum city’s side. The reinforcements are expected to join forces with troops crossing from Omdurman via the White Nile and Fatehab bridges. The source said that the military has amassed additional military equipment and advanced weapons in Omdurman, anticipating their use in an imminent advance operation.

The White Nile bridge, connecting Omdurman and Khartoum via Nile Street, leads directly to the Presidential Palace, which is currently under the RSF’s control. The palace is close to the military’s General Command headquarters. Along the route, there are RSF concentrations at the Tuti bridge, the Central Bank of Sudan, and the Khartoum commercial area.

Fatehab bridge, only a few hundred meters south of the White Nile bridge, leads to the Strategic Brigade camp. It also provides access to the General Command headquarters to the east and the Shagara military area to the south, as well as to the commercial area in central Khartoum.

***

Military movements in Gezira, new troops and equipment deployed

In Gezira State in central Sudan, the military recaptured the town of Huda in the Managil locality, following clashes with raiding RSF fighters.

Residents told Mada Masr that, on Monday, the RSF stormed the area, engaging in extensive looting and indiscriminate shooting and shelling, which resulted in civilian casualties. However, the military managed to regain control, capturing several RSF fighters and seizing three vehicles loaded with heavy weaponry, while destroying another.

Residents also said that the clashes caused dozens of families to flee their homes for safer areas. The Wad Madani resistance committees accused the RSF of committing a massacre in Huda, stating in a press release that the initial toll included over ten deaths and several injuries among civilians.

Additionally, the Sudan Doctors Syndicate's preliminary committee condemned the killing of Dr. Mulhim Mohamed Imam in Huda due to the RSF’s artillery shelling on Tuesday. They described the RSF's attack as a continuation of their massacres against civilians and villages.

On the other hand, the RSF accused the military and what they termed the extremist “Islamist movement’s” special operation battalions of executing 50 people based on racial grounds in village 32 in the Um al-Qura locality in eastern Gezira and razing the village entirely.

The military’s spokesperson, Brigadier General Abdallah Nabil, told Mada Masr that the RSF’s statement “is nonsense, unworthy of a response or consideration. If we were to keep up with [the RSF’s] lies, we would lose a lot of time. They lie like they breathe. Moreover, no one believes them,” Nabil said. 

Since December 18, the RSF has maintained control over Gezira’s capital, Wad Madani, and later extended its presence to various villages. Meanwhile, since April, the military has been amassing troops to retake the important state along three axes: westward in Managil, southward in Sennar, and eastward in Faw. However, the military has failed to make any significant territorial gains.

Mada Masr’s observations indicate that the military has received substantial reinforcements in the Managil axis, including 150 combat vehicles, in addition to drones, weapons and ammunition. The Sennar axis to the south has also been reinforced with heavy artillery and long-range guided missiles.

Military experts anticipate a simultaneous offensive across Gezira’s fronts. A field source told Mada Masr that the military believes that the advances in the Managil and Faw axes will be easier than expected. The source explained that the onset of the rain season is likely to aid these operations, as the RSF is expected to regroup in more accessible areas near supply points, facilitating confrontation.

***

Desert war

Sudan’s war has entered a new phase as it expands into the desert regions along the Sudanese-Libyan-Chadian border. This "desert war" began with the call to arms by Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi, who, on May 15 in a tribal conference in Fasher, urged the Zaghawa tribe to mobilize to battles in North Darfur’s capital and to participate in the war over supply routes crossing through the Zurug and Wadi Ambar areas.

The desert border regions of Sudan, Libya, and Chad are critical for the RSF’s military operations. Control over these areas means dominance over fuel smuggling routes from Libya, which are operated by networks of traders who sell the smuggled fuel along the border for both military and commercial use, including in goods transportation and mining activities.

Ali “Beki,” a trader who is active in cross-border trade between Sudan and Libya, told Mada Masr that long-standing networks have been smuggling goods, vehicles and fuel from Libya into Sudan. 

Beki noted that since the outbreak of the Libyan war over 13 years ago, military trading activities have thrived, including arms and gold smuggling, as well as the trade in fighters and their trafficking between Libya, Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic.

Beki added that the RSF transformed these activities into revenue sources and established new networks connected to deeper regions of Africa, both in the center and west of the continent, effectively monopolizing the market to control the borders of four neighboring countries. 

With the onset of Sudan’s war, these networks became more visible as supply routes fell into the hands of the RSF. The collapse of the state allowed them to expand the routes’ reach to Khartoum and penetrate south into South Sudan.

In the recent wave of clashes in Fasher, coinciding with Minnawi's mobilization call to local "African" communities, RSF networks began to crumble under military strikes along the border. Military-allied armed movements brought in significant reinforcements and heavy military equipment from Libya and northern Chad. These forces attacked the RSF’s rear lines — which are involved in operating supply routes — aided by extensive air strikes targeting RSF military bases.

The joint force's alliance with border tribes in Chad and Sudan enabled them to seize three shipments of military equipment between May 10 and June 12, according to a military source in the joint force in Fasher. These shipments were en route to Fasher via the Nyala-Tawila road. The joint force, supported by mobilized civilian forces, destroyed part of the equipment, seized the rest, and rearmed popular battalions.

These battles are crucial as they aim to cut off the RSF’s military supplies, depleting their resources and affecting their capabilities on multiple fronts. A military source told Mada Masr that targeting supply lines means the RSF and their allied troops in central Sudan will face logistical cutoffs, leaving them no option but to flee or surrender. Last week, a group of RSF soldiers handed over their equipment to military units in the Hattab and Shendi camps in the River Nile State, and another group surrendered to military and joint force units in Fasher, according to the source.

The source added that this does not signal the end of the conflict, as future rounds may see the RSF launching intense, suicidal offensives to gain control of strategic areas for loot or political leverage. The upcoming phase will be extremely harsh, the source estimated, with the military striving to assert its dominance and military capabilities, while the RSF seeks to bolster its military competence and mobilize more forces in critical areas, especially since the paramilitary does not employ defensive tactics.

***

Renewed diplomatic clash between Sudan and UAE

As military confrontations intensify on various fronts, the diplomatic arena saw its first face-off between Sudan and the UAE during a UN Security Council session on Tuesday. The representatives of both countries exchanged accusations of fueling the war after months of trading condemnatory statements.

The back and forth began when Sudan’s representative to the UN, Al-Harith Idriss, stated that the UAE is providing weapons to the RSF. 

The UAE’s UN Representative, Mohamed Abu Shehab, requested to interject and dismissed the Sudanese allegations as "ridiculous." He said that the Sudanese ambassador "represents the Sudanese Armed Forces, one of the parties in the conflict." 

Abu Shehab emphasized that the UAE has consistently supported humanitarian operations in Sudan and questioned why “the Sudanese military representative has not participated in the Jeddah talks if they seek to end the conflict and civilian suffering.” He accused the Sudanese military of obstructing aid flow and urged them to stop exploiting international platforms, such as the UNSC, for political posturing, “and instead focus on ending the conflict you started.” 

In response, Idriss said that those who seek peace in Sudan must act with sincerity. He accused the UAE of “fostering organized and ethnic terrorism in Sudan,” citing a December 2023 report by the UN expert committee on Sudan as evidence. Idriss said that Sudan had presented comprehensive data and evidence to the council, but the UAE's actions had disrupted the necessary proceedings. He called for the council to condemn the UAE’s aggression, asserting that a country guilty of such actions “cannot be a partner in peace.”

A source in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry told Mada Masr that Sudan would continue to pursue all avenues to hold the UAE accountable for its actions, which, the source said, are a blatant violation of international and diplomatic norms. 

A sovereign source told Mada Masr that the UAE's ambassador attempted to obscure facts regarding the Jeddah talks, accusing the Gulf Arab state of derailing the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s efforts and diverting the peace process from its intended purpose. “Everyone knows this, including members of the UN Security Council. But the Emirati aggression adopts contemptible approaches to undermine peace and security in sub-Saharan Africa, the Red Sea, and central Africa,” the source said. 

The UAE representative reiterated that the allegations of supporting the RSF were baseless and aimed at diverting attention from severe violations on the ground.

The UNSC session on Tuesday addressed the situation in Sudan, with briefings from Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee, and Edem Wosornu, the director of operations and advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Pobee said that “the plight of the Sudanese people demands our urgent attention and decisive action,” calling for an immediate ceasefire in Fasher to prevent further atrocities and protect vital infrastructure. She highlighted that resolution 2736, adopted by the council last week, “is an important signal from the council that the escalation of the military confrontation must stop.”

Wosornu focused on the severe impact of the conflict on civilians in Fasher and other hotspots, the worsening humanitarian crisis, the current status of humanitarian aid access and funding, and the urgent need to halt the fighting. 

Wosomu pointed out that civilians in Sudan have endured 14 months of conflict, with Fasher’s residents currently at the epicenter. Wosornu warned that the ongoing violence threatens the lives of 800,000 individuals, including women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Wosomu cited Médecins Sans Frontieres, stating that over 1,300 people were injured in Fasher between May and June, and at least 130,000 people have been displaced since April, mostly moving southward within Darfur or westward into Chad. Wosomu added that the attack on Fasher’s Southern Hospital on June 8 is “a recent example of the destruction of healthcare in Sudan, where over 80 percent of hospitals and clinics are now not functioning in some of the worst affected areas.”