RSF takes control of Khartoum state area, displaces residents
October 6, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the Al-Ailafoon suburb, 30 kilometres east of Khartoum, on Friday, forcing thousands of residents to flee and looting their homes.
Bloody clashes began between the army and the paramilitary forces in Al-Ailafoon on Thursday, following an army force attack on the RSF position in Soba. The counterattack aimed to control the army’s camp affiliated with the Engineers Corps.
Al-Ailafoon had sheltered large numbers of displaced people from the East Nile and the Khartoum Bahri following the outbreak of the war between the two forces on April 15.
The RSF spokesman said in a statement on Friday that their forces responded to an attack by the army and mobilized volunteers launched from the Al-Ailafoon on Thursday.
“The attackers were defeated and pursued into Al-Ailafoon,” he said, adding that their forces killed 120 army members and captured 70 others, most of whom were volunteers, in addition to seizing ten combat vehicles with full equipment and three armoured vehicles.
The Emergency Lawyers group said in a statement that the RSF looted, forcibly displaced Al-Ailafoon residents, and restricted the right to movement by setting up checkpoints, looting, and arresting fleeing civilians.
The group pointed out that the clashes between the two sides in Al-Ailafoon continued for the second day, on Friday leaving civilian casualties and injuries and interrupting the area’s electricity, water, communications, and internet networks.
Emergency lawyers also condemned the RSF’s attacks on civilians and the committed violations.
Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that military aircraft carried out intensive air strikes on RSF positions in the area, causing heavy losses in their military vehicles. They confirmed that a number of citizens’ homes and shops were looted, and vehicles stolen.
Activists published pictures showing large numbers of civilians fleeing from the neighbourhoods of Al-Safa, Al-Imtidad, and Al-Mawradah, adjacent to the army camp, while others fled towards the areas of Um Douban, Wad Abu Saleh, Al-Karnos, Al-Hafra, Al-Dabaiba, and other villages east of the Nile.
A number of residents of the area released audio clips on social media in which they pointed out the control of the RSF over the town and directed harsh criticism at the Sudanese army for failing to repel the attacking forces.
The army prevented large numbers of vehicles heading to the Eastern Nile from Gezira State and forced them to stop in the Rifa’a locality for “security reasons” following the clashes that broke out between the two warring parties.
(ST)