Sudan: Clashes in El Fasher Again

Heavy fighting broke out in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, on Tuesday morning when Sudanese army warplanes launched airstrikes on Rapid Support Forces (RSF) positions within the city. This escalation comes despite international calls for a ceasefire.

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A joint force comprised of armed movements in Darfur allied with the army claims to be closely monitoring RSF movements around El Fasher, the sole major city in Darfur not currently under the control of the paramilitary forces.

The RSF, however, continues to mobilize fighters, including Arab tribal militias, around El Fasher, defying international pressure. In response, the Sudanese army and allied forces have significantly bolstered their defences throughout the city.

El Fasher is strategically important, being the only major city in Darfur that hasn’t fallen under RSF control. The RSF tightened its grip on the surrounding states of South, West, Central, and East Darfur last year.

The conflict in the city of El Fasher is more complex than other battles that the RSF fought in the rest of Darfur. The complexity comes from the population density, and that El Fasher represents the economic backbone of the region, the second city after Nyala. This is beside the complex tribal map with the presence of displacement camps with a high population density from the first Darfur war, which began with skirmishes.

The ethnic dispute over resources between shepherds and farmers in what was known at the time as the “Century and Juron” conflict, which turned into a revolution and as a result of the fifteen-year war that claimed the lives of about 300,000 people and displaced 2 million among refugees and displaced persons, represented in the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps in the heart of the capital, El Fasher.

The First Darfur War ended by accusing the deposed regime of ethnic cleansing and war crimes, and the leaders of the former regime are wanted to appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Will history repeat itself in the imminent battle of El Fasher? How can we avoid the showers of blood in the city of El Fasher, which is about to turn into a bloody torrent that will kill large numbers of civilians??