Since December 2023, the RSF has seized Al Jazirah state by invading at least 137 villages and localities, controlling more than 90 % of the state apart from Al-Manaqil and nearby villages in the south as of November 2024.833 The takeover of Al Jazirah allowed the RSF to push further south into Sennar state in the summer of 2024.834 The RSF in Al-Jazirah were reportedly having difficulties controlling and commanding their troops,835 its hierarchical structure having broken down and competing factions operating independently.836 In March 2024, the SLM-MM under Darfur governor Minni Minnawi announced that it would join the SAF in its military operations against the RSF in Al Jazirah.837 Similarly, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) announced it was joining the fighting alongside the SAF in Al Jazirah, undertaking a recruitment drive in eastern Sudan.838 Beside these Darfur armed groups, the SAF in its endeavour to retake Al Jazirah was increasingly relying on Islamist militia originally mobilised under the Bashir regime.839 The May 2024 SAF offensive to retake Al Jazirah reportedly faced coordination issues between the SAF regular troops and allied armed groups such as the SLA-MM, JEM, SPLM-N-Agar and the SLM-Tambour.840
As for Sennar, by November 2024 the last stronghold of the RSF was the state capital,841 which was recaptured by the SAF in December 2024.842 Clashes between the SAF and the RSF in White Nile were ongoing as of December 2024.843
The SPLM-N-Agar, a splinter faction of the SPLM-N led by Malik Agar, has aligned its forces with the SAF844 and in February 2024 started moving troops from Blue Nile towards Wad Madani in Al Jazirah.845 In March 2024, SPLM-N-Agar troops were reportedly ambushed by the RSF on their way from Sennar to Wad Madani, suffering a high number of casualties.846 As of August 2024, the SPLM-N-Agar forces were still present in Blue Nile state and mobilising troops there.847 The SPLM-N-al-Hilu faction, which was not aligned with either conflict party848 reportedly held territories in Blue Nile state,849 namely the New Funj area.850
- 833
Ayin Network, Al-Jazeera: Over 130 villages invaded by RSF, 19 November 2024, url
- 834
Sudan Tribune, Sudanese army launches offensive to recapture key states, 18 October 2024, url
- 835
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 13, 23 May 2024, url, p. 3; Reuters, Unruly RSF fighters sow chaos in Sudan's farming heartland, 9 August 2024, url
- 836
Mada Masr, RSF accused of poisoning hundreds in besieged Hilaliya, eastern Gezira | Tens of thousands displaced from Gezira to eastern Sudan, 13 November 2024, url
- 837
International Crisis Group, CrisisWatch – Sudan: February 2024 – December 2024, n.d., url
- 838
Sudan War Monitor, JEM to join battle on Gedaref front, 22 March 2024, url
- 839
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 11, 12 March 2024, url, p. 3
- 840
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 13, 23 May 2024, url, p. 3
- 841
Mada Masr, Sudan Nashra: RSF floods villages in Gezira | Clashes intensify in Fasher | Sudan split on Russian veto, 20 November 2024, url
- 842
Sudan Tribune, Sudanese army repels RSF attack in Blue Nile, retakes key town in Al Jazirah, 7 December 2024, url
- 843
Sudan Tribune, Fighting erupts in Sudan’s Blue Nile and White Nile states, 8 December 2024, url
- 844
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan – Advance unedited version, A/HRC/57/23, 5 September 2024, url, para. 26
- 845
ACLED, Sudan: Escalating Conflict in Khartoum and Attacks on Civilians in al-Jazirah and South Kordofan, 15 March 2024, url
- 846
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 11, 12 March 2024, url, p. 3
- 847
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 15, 1 August 2024, url, p. 3
- 848
UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan – Advance unedited version, A/HRC/57/23, 5 September 2024, url, para. 31
- 849
UNSG, Children and armed conflict in the Sudan, S/2024/443, 7 June 2024, url, para. 17
- 850
Radio Dabanga, SPLM-N El Hilu: ‘Over three million people face famine in southern Sudan, aid obstructed’, 29 September 2024, url