Sudan’s RSF advanced on Port Sudan

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) took control of strategic towns as they advance on Port Sudan, where the Sudanese army and UN agencies are based.

The advance marks an inroad for the RSF in its war with the Sudanese army, which broke out in April last year, with no end in sight.

“We have liberated the 17th Infantry Division from Singa,” the capital of Sennar state, the RSF announced on X.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands though there is no official tally as the infighting prevents aid workers from taking stock of the human tragedy.

The RSF controls most of the capital Khartoum, Al-Jazira state in the center of the country, the vast western region of Darfur and much of Kordofan to the south.

The advance of the RSF in Darfur triggered warnings by NGOs of another genocide in the area, where hospitals and other civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.

The war left nearly half Sudan’s 48 million population suffering from hunger in areas including the capital Khartoum, according to the latest figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a group of experts from U.N. bodies and major relief agencies that measures hunger and formally declares famine.

This is the single largest humanitarian crisis on the planet,” Samantha Power, the head of USAID, told reporters on June 14.

Some 2 million people have crossed the border to flee the ongoing civil war between the paramilitary RSF and the army, UNHCR said.

The UN said it has received only 17% of the 2.7 billion dollars needed to address the humanitarian situation in the country.