🔗 Share this article

In excess of 36,000 civilians have escaped Sudan's Kordofan area eastern sector of Darfur starting Saturday, according to the UN's migration agency.

The strategic central area connecting the country's Darfur provinces and the Khartoum-Riverine region has in recent weeks become the newest conflict zone in the extended civil war between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary group.

Significant Exodus Figures

An calculated 36,825 people fled five localities in North Kordofan province between 26 October and 31 October, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The civilians, most on foot, moved toward Tawila, a town to the west of El Fasher that is currently accommodating over 652,000 evacuated individuals.

Heightened Troop Concentration

Local inhabitants of North Kordofan on Monday described a substantial rise in both RSF and army presence across towns and villages throughout the state.

Both forces are competing for control of El Obeid, the North Kordofan provincial capital and a critical supply and command base that joins Darfur to Khartoum.

"Today, all our forces have assembled at the Bara front here," said an RSF member in a recently circulated video message.

Local Citizens Report Security Concerns

A resident of Um Smeima, located west of El Obeid, stated that the quantity of RSF vehicles had risen considerably since the group's seizure of El Fasher.

"We ceased visiting our farms, afraid of fighting," the resident commented.

Another inhabitant, who requested anonymity for safety concerns, also confirmed that "there has been a significant rise in army vehicles and weapons west and south of El Obeid" over the previous fortnight.

World Warnings and Calls

A senior UN official sounded warnings last week about "widespread abuses" and "ethnically motivated reprisals" by RSF in Bara.

The diplomat alerted to patterns comparable to patterns in Darfur, where RSF combatants have been accused of mass killings, sexual violence and abductions against certain racial groups.

The religious leader on Sunday urged an prompt truce and the creation of aid passageways in Sudan, saying that attacks on civilians and hindrances to humanitarian aid "are producing unacceptable suffering."

Sudan's diplomatic representative to Egypt on Sunday charged RSF of perpetrating war crimes in El Fasher and stated that the Sudanese government would not engage with the armed faction.

The ambassador further urged the international community to categorize the group as a terrorist group.