SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudanese army and RSF clash over key Sennar locations

24/6/2024: Sudan Tribune - Sudanese army and RSF clash over key Sennar locations

Sudan Tribune report that the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are locked in a fierce battle for control of the Sennar Sugar Factory, surrounding villages, and the strategic Jabal Moya area.

This escalation comes amidst the RSF’s southward expansion from Al Jazirah State into Sennar State since December, a campaign marred by accusations of civilian rights violations.

Eyewitnesses reported intense fighting in the Jabal Moya area, with the RSF allegedly launching an early morning attack on army defensive positions using heavy weaponry. The clashes resulted in civilian casualties. 

Ammar Hassan Ammar, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance, a volunteer group fighting alongside the army, accused the RSF of mobilizing forces to attack Sennar and sever vital supply routes. Ammar said the army successfully repelled the RSF and retained control of Jabal Moya.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Ethiopian militias invade Sudanese territory, escalating violence and looting

24/6/2024: Sudan Tribune - Ethiopian militias invade Sudanese territory, escalating violence and looting

Sudan Tribune report that Ethiopian militias launched a renewed incursion into Sudanese territory, penetrating 15 kilometres deep into the Al-Fashqa border region.

Reports of escalating violence, looting, and attacks on farmers and herders in the border area have raised alarm as the militias attempt to seize control of agricultural lands.

The Sudanese military, which had retaken control of approximately 90% of Al-Fashqa since 2020, is now facing a resurgence of Ethiopian aggression.

Local livestock owner Abdallah Ahmed reported being robbed of 140 sheep by the militias at gunpoint, warning of the dire consequences of unchecked violence and highlighting the militias’ attempts to prevent Sudanese farmers from cultivating their lands during the crucial rainy season.

Local residents are calling for urgent intervention from the Sudanese government and the international community to address the escalating crisis in Al-Fashqa and ensure the safety and security of those living in the border region.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: International Crisis Group - Halting the Catastrophic Battle for Sudan’s El Fasher

24/6/2024: International Crisis Group - Halting the Catastrophic Battle for Sudan’s El Fasher

The International Crisis Group proposed solutions for alleviating the crisis in Al-Fashir, including the insistence that the warring parties establish evacuation corridors. The ICG note that political obstacles and logistical and security risks hinder the deployment of an external security forces, but suggest that one possibility could be a safe passage into neutral areas of nearby Central Darfur controlled by Abdel Wahid al-Nur, an ethnic Fur who leads Darfur’s largest rebel group.

ICG add that, despite Sudanese authorities giving the UN permission to use a remote North Darfur route for aid delivery, aid officials say this route is costly and impractical for the large-scale operation that would be required to stave off mass starvation, and it may also become impassable during the imminent rainy season.

SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Middle East Monitor - The UAE is expanding its reckless policies and interventions, by Mohamed Suliman

24/6/2024: Middle East Monitor - The UAE is expanding its reckless policies and interventions, by Mohamed Suliman

With the UAE said to support the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with the aim of controlling Sudan’s agricultural and economic resources, Mohamed Suliman, a senior researcher at Northeastern University, calls for the UAE to “stop acting as a rogue state, rethink its foreign policies, and consider fairer alternatives for all concerned.”

Suliman adds that “the cost of the UAE’s expansionist dreams is high,” citing the “abuse” of natural resources, committing of massacres, support for dictators and warlords, killing of democratic aspirations and destabilising of “too many political orders”.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Urgent plea to aid Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Uganda

24/6/2024: Radio Dabanga - Urgent plea to aid Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Uganda

Radio Dabanga report that the No to Women’s Oppression initiative has launched an urgent humanitarian appeal to the international community to resolve the crisis of Sudanese refugees stranded in the Kumer and Olala camps in the forests of Ethiopia.

The initiative called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Ethiopian authorities to evacuate all refugees to safe camps and provide them with essential resources, in a statement that documented how refugees were dying due to lack of medical care.

The number of stranded Sudanese in Ethiopia is estimated by No to Women’s Oppression at 6,248 people, including 2,133 children, 76 people with disabilities, and 1,196 sick people.

Sudanese refugees in Uganda’s Kiryandongo camp called for improved living conditions and support from Taqadom.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: BBC – Sudan crisis: Internet restored – but only for lawyer

24/6/19: BBC – Sudan crisis: Internet restored – but only for lawyer

 Sudanese lawyer Abdel-Adheem Hassan has told the BBC that the internet has been restored after a three-week shutdown - but only for him.

 Hassan on Sunday won a lawsuit against telecoms operator Zain Sudan over the blackout ordered by Sudan's military rulers. He says his victory is only benefitting him as he filed the case in a personal capacity. He said he is going back to court on Tuesday to win the right for more Sudanese people.

 "We have a court session tomorrow and another one the day after tomorrow. Hopefully one million people will gain internet access by the end of the week," Hassan added.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters – Sudanese security forces use violence to disperse student protest

24/6/19: Reuters – Sudanese security forces use violence to disperse student protest

 Reuters reports that Sudanese security forces used violence to break up a protest in Khartoum by dozens of students demanding that the military council hands over power to civilians.

 The demonstrators chanted “civilian, civilian” as they gathered in front of the National Ribat University in Burri neighbourhood near the ministry of defence, but security forces quickly chased them and beat them with batons, a Reuters witness said.

 A few protests have taken place at night in Khartoum and other state capitals since the June 3 massacre, but the Ribat University protest was the first demonstration in Khartoum to be held during the day.

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: AP – Sudan’s military sidesteps proposal for civilian rule

24/6/19: AP – Sudan’s military sidesteps proposal for civilian rule, by Hussein Malla and Samy Magdy

 AP reports that Sudan’s military rulers refused to agree to the Ethiopian proposal for a power-sharing agreement with the Declaration of Freedom Change.

 The military council’s deputy head Himedti said that the Ethiopian proposal ws supposed to pave the way for the resumption of talks with the DFC, “not to offer proposals for solutions.”

 The Ethiopian mediator Mahmoud Dirir proposed a 15 member sovereign council govern Sudan for a 3-year period until elections, with 7 DFC and military representatives each, and 1 neutral civilian.

 Himedti said that he did not oppose civilian participation in the sovereign council, but that it “should be (formed) through elections.”

SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Reuters – UN urges Sudan’s military to allow protester deaths probe

24/6/19: Reuters – UN urges Sudan’s military to allow protester deaths probe

 Sudanese authorities must grant human rights monitors access to the country and end “repression” against protesters and the shutdown of the Internet, U.N. human rights boss Michelle Bachelet said on Monday.

 Bachelet, in a speech opening a three-week session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, said that her office had reports that more than 100 protesters were killed and many more injured during an assault by security forces on a peaceful sit-in on June 3. “Hundreds of protesters may be missing,” she said.