Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sunday morning rocked El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, witnesses said, amid international calls on the parties to stop fighting in highly populated areas.
Battles started on Friday with heavy weaponry for control of El Fasher city.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj in El Fasher, several residents reported “battles with all types of weapons” three days into the heavy fighting between the rival forces in the city centre.
“On the western side of El Fasher, the army and the armed movements are stationed there. If you go to the southern part of the city, areas of El Wehda, Umbase, Makraka and Dadinga, there are armed movement forces together with the army there,” one of the residents said.
She added,” On the city’s eastern side, like going to the market and leaving the El Fasher School, armed movements occupy that area. After the livestock market, the RSF controls most of the neighbourhoods there. Areas such as Hai El Nakheel, El Tadamun, Hai El Ghaba, El Kahraba and Masane are controlled by the RSF. So, the city of El Fasher was divided until at around 11 am,” she added.
The eyewitness pointed out that the city experienced a communications blackout for several hours on Friday as the army and the RSF waged battles.
Another resident said that the Sudanese army’s warplanes on Sunday morning dropped explosive barrels in the Al-Timanat neighbourhood and its environs, pointing out that one of the explosive barrels fell in an area populated with civilians and killed at least four people.
The source further said another explosive barrel fell in an empty area in front of the Babiker Nahar Medical Center, prompting all patients, including intensive care cases, to leave the centre and go to Al-Fasher Southern Hospital.
The eyewitness revealed that four IDP camps in the Al Wahda neighbourhood were out of service due to the clashes.
The Sudanese army and the RSF could not immediately be reached for comment.
The United Nations on Saturday warned that the violence threatens the lives of over 800,000 civilians who reside in the town of El Fasher.
El Fasher is the capital of North Darfur State, the centre of the western region of Darfur, and the only city that has not fallen into the hands of the RSF.