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Highway gains, El Obeid
Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said they regained full control of the Al Sadarat highway linking Khartoum with El Obeid, a city that has been under siege by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“Khartoum (Fides Agency) – The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) announced that it had regained control of the highway linking the capital Khartoum to El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan”
Hindustan Times reported that RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo told his fighters to consider themselves "unleashed" after the army lost a key highway between Khartoum and Kordofan’s largest city of El-Obeid, and that Daglo said, "From today, I no longer hold the reins, I have released the reins to you."
The Hindustan Times account said the UN has warned RSF fighters could commit mass atrocities in Kordofan as they sought to encircle El-Obeid ahead of an apparent large-scale assault.
AFP sources cited by Hindustan Times said the Sudanese army on Sunday managed to push the RSF west, off the 400-kilometre highway that connects Khartoum with El-Obeid, after days-long fighting across North Kordofan state.
In El-Obeid, relieved resident Sabreen Mohamed told AFP that "the highway opening means goods can flow," while the road to Khartoum remained closed to civilians, who relied on the eastern road to the White Nile where RSF drone strikes were reported.
Competing claims and strikes
Radio Dabanga said SAF tightened its grip on the strategic Omdurman–El Obeid Export Road after capturing Umm Garfa, but local sources in El Obeid disputed reports that the route had reopened, saying fighting continued and the RSF still controlled the Reihad El Nuba area.
Radio Dabanga also reported that pro-RSF social media accounts claimed Maj Gen Wad Elamin El Daga, commander of Group 214 on the North Kordofan area of Reihad El Nuba axis, and Maj Gen El Haj Hussein El Buss, commander of Group 142, were killed during fighting.
In parallel, the Defense Post said RSF drone strikes tore through two municipal buildings in El-Obeid at dawn, leaving the local lawyers’ association and a branch of the Agricultural Bank of Sudan in ruins, and it reported that no casualties were reported.
The Defense Post quoted Sabreen Mohamed brushing off the attacks as "death throes" and said, "We're used to it, every time the army advances, they retaliate against North Kordofan," as drones struck several locations across the city.
Al Jazeera said the capture of the highway restores "a direct connection between the capital and Kordofan for the first time in months," while also warning that residents faced intense RSF drone attacks.
What’s at stake next
The Hindustan Times account said the war between Daglo’s RSF and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has killed upwards of 200,000 people since April 2023, and it described the conflict as creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.
“The Joint Force of the armed movements allied with the Sudanese army said on Sunday that it destroyed more than 62 armored vehicles belonging to the Rapid Support Forces and seized 54 others during battles in North Kordofan state in central Sudan”
It also said the RSF consolidated control of Darfur last year in an attack the UN said bore "the hallmarks of genocide," and that the UN warned RSF fighters could commit mass atrocities in Kordofan as they sought to encircle El-Obeid.
Radio Dabanga reported that SAF Assistant Commander-in-Chief Lt Gen Yasser El Atta said Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan had ordered forces to continue advancing towards Um Dafoug (Um Dafug) locality in South Darfur, with operations continuing until all areas under RSF control had been recaptured.
Al Jazeera said the highway’s reopening would help the Sudanese army move troops, weapons, fuel and supplies and block the RSF’s push to seize El-Obeid, while also potentially improving humanitarian access for communities affected by the war.
In the same Al Jazeera report, UN Women said women and girls in El-Obeid "now face an impossible choice over something as basic as a bucket of water: risk a drone strike by collecting it in daylight, or risk rape by waiting until dark," underscoring the humanitarian stakes tied to control of the city and its routes.
