Sudan’s RSF launches major security crackdown in Nyala

August 18, 2026 (NYALA) – The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have launched their largest security and military mobilization in South Darfur’s capital of Nyala since seizing the city, residents and eyewitnesses said on Tuesday.

The paramilitary group seized Nyala, Sudan’s second-largest city, in October 2023 following heavy clashes with the Sudanese Armed Forces. Last month, the Sudan Founding Alliance (Tasis) named Nyala as the capital of its parallel administration.

Heavily armed special forces and elite units set up checkpoints and deployed across major roads, key intersections, and administrative headquarters to restore order following two years of worsening insecurity.

Residents reported pervasive armed robberies in markets and residential areas by uniform-wearing combatants in machine-gun-mounted vehicles.

Armoured vehicles deployed early Tuesday morning to conduct rigorous searches at major intersections throughout the city, an Al-Wadi neighbourhood resident said.

The show of force follows a wave of kidnappings targeting merchants and local leaders for ransom, alongside ethnically motivated violence and severe restrictions on Starlink satellite communications.

Local sources said the campaign follows directives from RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, to re-establish command and control and confiscate over 300 unregistered combat vehicles.

Dagalo is widely believed to be in Nyala to oversee the security sweep directly, having recently made public appearances at field hospitals and with wounded personnel.