Thousands flee North Kordofan town as Sudan army advances, RSF raids gold mine

September 20, 2026 (HAMRAT AL-SHEIKH) – Thousands of civilians fled a town in Sudan’s North Kordofan state on Sunday as the military and allied forces advanced toward the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces’ final strongholds in the region, rights monitors and local sources said.

The mass displacement from Hamrat al-Sheikh follows the launch of a major government counter-offensive in the middle of last week, the largest military push in North Kordofan in months.

The offensive, carried out alongside allied Joint Force factions, has recaptured dozens of villages and severed key RSF supply corridors linking the central state to the Darfur region.

Faced with heavy ground assaults, RSF units have retreated westward into towns including Sodari, Al-Mazrub, Umm Bader and Hamrat al-Sheikh.

The Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese legal and rights monitor, said RSF fighters had heavily deployed vehicles and weapons among homes in Hamrat al-Sheikh, prompting families to flee into open scrubland or toward safer areas, including Al Dabbah in Northern State.

The legal monitor condemned the deployment in civilian zones, warning of severe danger to non-combatants and urging both sides to adhere to international humanitarian law and ensure unhindered aid access.

Meanwhile, local sources told Sudan Tribune that an RSF convoy arriving from Darfur attacked an artisanal gold mine in Umm Bader, beating workers and looting machinery, equipment and cash before driving miners away.

Another withdrawing RSF unit ransacked the market in Al-Mazrub, a vital commercial trading hub in western North Kordofan, beating traders and looting supplies, the sources said.

The RSF was not immediately available for comment on the reports.