Khartoum state ‘completely free' of paramilitaries
KHARTOUM: The Sudanese army said on Tuesday it had dislodged rival paramilitaries from their last positions in Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, securing all of Khartoum state nearly two months after recapturing the capital's center. 'We affirm that Khartoum state is completely free of rebels,' military spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), locked in a brutal conflict with the regular army since April 2023.
In its biggest victory since the war began, the army in March recaptured central Khartoum, pushing the RSF to retreat to two holdout positions: Salha, south of Omdurman, and Ombada to the west. The army said it launched on Monday a 'large-scale offensive' to push the RSF out of both, with explosions from the clashes heard across the city, an AFP correspondent reported.
The RSF did not immediately comment on the military's latest announcement, which would cement army control over central Sudan, pushing the paramilitaries back towards their stronghold in the vast western region of Darfur. The war, now in its third year, pits the army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF, under his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It has also effectively split Africa's third-largest country in two, with the army holding the center, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south.
The latest battles around Khartoum come as both sides seek to install rival governments. On Monday, Burhan tapped former UN official Kamil Idris as prime minister, in what analysts see as an attempt to present a functioning civilian-led administration amid the ongoing war. Both the Arab League and the African Union have welcomed the appointment, with the former calling it an 'important step toward restoring the work of national civil institutions'.
The African Union in turn called it 'a step toward inclusive governance' and expressed hope the move would 'restore constitutional order and democratic governance'.
Burhan also appointed two women, Salma Abdel Jabbar and Nawara Abu Mohamed, as members of the ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council, while stripping the body of its powers to oversee the cabinet — moves aimed at showing progress towards civilian rule, said analyst Kholood Khair.
She said Burhan wants to 'maintain power but share liability... because everything is now blamed on him'. His latest moves were also meant to appeal to the African Union after Sudan's membership was suspended in 2021, Khair added. In April, the RSF said it would form its own government in territory under its control, though analysts say it is unlikely to win international backing.
After a major battlefield victory in March, when the army recaptured most of Khartoum, the RSF this month launched attacks deep into army-held territory. Long-range drone strikes blamed on the paramilitaries have targeted key infrastructure in army-held northeastern Sudan, including the wartime capital Port Sudan and power stations supplying electricity to millions.
From their last remaining positions, the RSF had launched attacks across Khartoum, including drone strikes on three power stations that knocked out electricity in the capital last week. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported the local water network had been forced out of service, risking the spread of cholera in the city as residents 'will turn to different water sources'.
Health ministry officials said on Tuesday that 51 people had died of cholera out of more than 2,300 reported cases in the past three weeks, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state. MSF on Sunday said the electricity blackout had disrupted healthcare at the city's major hospitals, amid fears of heightened civilian suffering. 'The recurrent attacks on critical infrastructure place civilian lives at risk, worsen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine basic human rights,' UN human rights expert Radhouane Nouicer warned on Monday. In recent days, both the army and RSF have launched attacks across the country, trying to claim territory and cut off rival supply lines. – AFP
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Kuwait Times
12-06-2025
- Kuwait Times
Egypt's crackdown drives refugees on new route to Libya and beyond
Sudanese refugees increasingly fleeing to Libya from Egypt CAIRO: Bahr El-Din Yakoub fled Sudan to seek sanctuary in Egypt after a missile ripped through his home in Khartoum and killed four of his friends. But economic hardship and a crackdown on refugees in Egypt pushed him onwards, first along dangerous desert smuggling routes into northeastern Libya, and then on the perilous sea crossing to the Greek island of Crete. Yakoub, 25, is one of a small but growing number of Sudanese refugees who are giving up on Egypt and taking their chances in Libya, rather than returning home where civil war has been raging since April 2023, according to migrants, smugglers, aid workers and activists. While the flight of tens of thousands of Sudanese to Libya via their common border has been documented, the trend of Sudanese nationals feeling they have no option but to take the northern route out of Egypt has not previously been reported. For this story, Reuters spoke with 32 Sudanese refugees. While a few are still in Egypt, most described how they had moved on due to the difficult conditions there, making it to Libya, Greece and France. And as more Sudanese head to Libya, where the situation can be precarious for refugees, more are boarding boats for Europe. In the first five months of 2025, the number of Sudanese nationals arriving in Europe jumped 134 percent from a year earlier, even as overall numbers of people crossing from North Africa declined, according to preliminary figures from the UN's refugee agency UNHCR. 'The sea was rough and it was a very difficult trip, but we were exhausted by all that we endured in Libya. We had no other choice, either we cross or die,' Yakoub said, adding that he had been detained, arrested and ill-treated by Libyan authorities and militias. Europe has supported the Libyan coastguard, which returns migrants stopped at sea to detention centers, and has funded Libyan border management programs. A UN fact-finding mission concluded in 2023 that crimes against humanity had been committed against migrants in some Libyan detention centers. Major General Ibrahim Al-Arbd, head of Libya's Department to Combat Illegal Migration in the eastern Libyan district of Al-Butnan, said as of January, 20,000-25,000 Sudanese had crossed into Libya via Egypt since the Sudan war started. He said many of them held refugee status in Egypt but had struggled to settle there due to economic hardship. He said in May that 200-250 Sudanese were crossing per week and, as summer approaches, he expected the number to rise. 'Safety beyond Egypt' Since the war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces started, more than 4 million Sudanese have been driven into neighboring countries, according to UNHCR. By far the largest number, 1.5 million, fled north to Egypt. Although Egypt initially allowed visa-free entry for all but working-age Sudanese men, it limited entries after a surge in arrivals, leading to more refugees using smuggling routes to reach the country, according to migrants, migration lawyers and aid workers. Securing residency in Egypt - a crucial step for obtaining access to basic services such as health and education - also became increasingly difficult, with significant delays and financial barriers, they said. Egypt's Foreign Ministry and State Information Service (SIS) did not respond to requests for comment. Mahmoud Fawzi, Egypt's Minister of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs and Political Communication, denied any restrictions had been placed on issuing residency permits to Sudanese migrants. For many, the process, which required a deposit of about $1,000 under an August 2023 decree, was unaffordable, leaving them living on the fringes of society. Some instead undertook the lengthy project of acquiring UN refugee status. But a government crackdown last year put those who had not paid at risk of being rounded up or deported, regardless of their refugee status, according to three migration lawyers in Egypt who have handled hundreds of such cases. Rights groups and migration lawyers said there has been an increase in deportations from Egypt since the passage of a new asylum law at the end of 2024 which placed refugee approval and registration under government control instead of the UNHCR. 'The sense of insecurity created by this new situation among refugees and asylum seekers, combined with their inability to return to their own country, has led them to seek safety beyond Egypt, facing the perils of further migration,' said Mohamed Lotfy, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, a non-governmental organization in Egypt. Fawzi said there was no bias against Sudanese nationals and they receive all their rights. He said no deportations happen unless people violate the law, or choose to return home. 'No way I could stay' After leaving Khartoum a few weeks into the war, Yakoub moved three times in search of safety within Sudan. When he couldn't find refuge, he paid smugglers to take him to Egypt. He believed the three-day journey across the desert would lead him to safety and stability, but life in Egypt proved difficult. After arriving in Cairo in January 2024, he slept on cold streets for days, waiting to register with UNHCR. Eventually, he gave up, saying the waiting time was too long. He moved into a small apartment with eight other Sudanese men and worked sporadically as a day laborer. Still, without proper documentation, he risked arrest as authorities began rounding up migrants without papers and deporting them. 'The conditions there were not suitable for a refugee ... I did not have the proper documentation, and I was running from the authorities all the time. There was no way I could stay,' he said, speaking to Reuters from a migrant camp outside Athens. 'I was afraid of getting arrested and being sent back to Sudan, so I went to Libya,' he said, 'But I found the situation there much worse.' Critics of the asylum law say its criteria for determining refugee status are vague and it jeopardizes the legal protection of those already recognized as refugees - including those with UNHCR documentation. Lotfy, whose organization provides legal support to migrants, said the new law appeared to have emboldened security forces further, with a rise in police reports and cases against Sudanese and sub-Saharan Africans. His organization has documented dozens of cases where police confiscated UNHCR papers before deporting refugees, he said. Egypt's Fawzi denied any refugees or asylum seekers registered with UNHCR had been deported. Numbers of deportations are not made public but according to two Egyptian security sources speaking on condition of anonymity, the security services had deported nearly 21,000 Sudanese, as of the end of March 2025, for their illegal presence or for violating Egypt's laws. Rights group Amnesty International has also documented the detention of migrants in Egypt in what it called cruel and inhuman conditions ahead of such deportations, which it says violate international law. 'Using the migration card' Egyptian officials say the government has shown generosity by absorbing so many Sudanese despite economic pressures such as double-digit inflation and a dollar crunch. Fawzi said everyone benefits from national subsidy schemes. Migrants in Egypt who spoke to Reuters disputed this, as did an internal EU commission report in 2024 seen by Reuters. It said about 1.5 million of the 9 million migrants Egypt says it has taken in were in vulnerable situations. Of them, nearly 1 million were registered as refugees and asylum seekers as of May 2025, according to the UNHCR. — Reuters 'Migrants and refugees are not entitled to domestic subsidy schemes or social protection programs and a large number of them have become food insecure,' the report said, adding that this had prompted many to move onwards. Five Western diplomats and EU officials said Cairo has attempted to pressure Brussels into increasing financial aid - in exchange for stopping migrants from heading to Europe. Tineke Strik, a member of the European Parliament and rapporteur for Egypt, said during a visit in December she met Fawzi and he asked her, 'Imagine if our border guards took a four-week holiday. What would happen then?' 'They are really using the migration card to get money from the EU,' Strik said. Fawzi declined to comment. In March, the EU announced a 7.4 billion euro funding package for Egypt as part of a push to stem migrant flows. Anti-immigration rhetoric has surged throughout the EU since more than a million people, mainly from Syria, arrived via the Mediterranean in 2015. This hostility has been exploited by right-wing and nationalist parties, pushing governments to adopt increasingly restrictive migration policies focused on returns. In recent months, the EU and member states have proposed policies criticized by human rights group to accelerate deportations and send migrants to hubs in third-party countries with which migrants have no connection. Two months after arriving in Libya, Yakoub boarded a dinghy bound for Crete with about 50 other people, mostly Sudanese. The Eastern Mediterranean route he took was the second most active route into the EU from January to April, with 12,228 people crossing, the EU's border agency Frontex said. The Central Mediterranean route to Italy and Malta was the most active. Though the Eastern route has seen a year-on-year decline in traffic, the number of Sudanese has surged to among the top three nationalities from January to May, totaling about 1,469 people, according to Frontex. This represents a significant rise from 361 during the same period last year and 237 the year before. Yakoub said he was relieved to be safe finally in Greece, and to start thinking about the future. 'If Greece offers me safety and stability, I will stay.'— Reuters
Kuwait Times
22-05-2025
- Kuwait Times
Khartoum state ‘completely free' of paramilitaries
KHARTOUM: The Sudanese army said on Tuesday it had dislodged rival paramilitaries from their last positions in Omdurman, part of the Sudanese capital, securing all of Khartoum state nearly two months after recapturing the capital's center. 'We affirm that Khartoum state is completely free of rebels,' military spokesman Nabil Abdallah said in a statement, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), locked in a brutal conflict with the regular army since April 2023. In its biggest victory since the war began, the army in March recaptured central Khartoum, pushing the RSF to retreat to two holdout positions: Salha, south of Omdurman, and Ombada to the west. The army said it launched on Monday a 'large-scale offensive' to push the RSF out of both, with explosions from the clashes heard across the city, an AFP correspondent reported. The RSF did not immediately comment on the military's latest announcement, which would cement army control over central Sudan, pushing the paramilitaries back towards their stronghold in the vast western region of Darfur. The war, now in its third year, pits the army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF, under his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 13 million and created what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. It has also effectively split Africa's third-largest country in two, with the army holding the center, north and east while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and, with its allies, parts of the south. The latest battles around Khartoum come as both sides seek to install rival governments. On Monday, Burhan tapped former UN official Kamil Idris as prime minister, in what analysts see as an attempt to present a functioning civilian-led administration amid the ongoing war. Both the Arab League and the African Union have welcomed the appointment, with the former calling it an 'important step toward restoring the work of national civil institutions'. The African Union in turn called it 'a step toward inclusive governance' and expressed hope the move would 'restore constitutional order and democratic governance'. Burhan also appointed two women, Salma Abdel Jabbar and Nawara Abu Mohamed, as members of the ruling Transitional Sovereignty Council, while stripping the body of its powers to oversee the cabinet — moves aimed at showing progress towards civilian rule, said analyst Kholood Khair. She said Burhan wants to 'maintain power but share liability... because everything is now blamed on him'. His latest moves were also meant to appeal to the African Union after Sudan's membership was suspended in 2021, Khair added. In April, the RSF said it would form its own government in territory under its control, though analysts say it is unlikely to win international backing. After a major battlefield victory in March, when the army recaptured most of Khartoum, the RSF this month launched attacks deep into army-held territory. Long-range drone strikes blamed on the paramilitaries have targeted key infrastructure in army-held northeastern Sudan, including the wartime capital Port Sudan and power stations supplying electricity to millions. From their last remaining positions, the RSF had launched attacks across Khartoum, including drone strikes on three power stations that knocked out electricity in the capital last week. Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported the local water network had been forced out of service, risking the spread of cholera in the city as residents 'will turn to different water sources'. Health ministry officials said on Tuesday that 51 people had died of cholera out of more than 2,300 reported cases in the past three weeks, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state. MSF on Sunday said the electricity blackout had disrupted healthcare at the city's major hospitals, amid fears of heightened civilian suffering. 'The recurrent attacks on critical infrastructure place civilian lives at risk, worsen the humanitarian crisis, and undermine basic human rights,' UN human rights expert Radhouane Nouicer warned on Monday. In recent days, both the army and RSF have launched attacks across the country, trying to claim territory and cut off rival supply lines. – AFP
Arab Times
20-05-2025
- Arab Times
Sudan's army chief appoints first PM since war began in 2023
CAIRO, May 20, (AP): Sudan's army chief on Monday appointed the country's first prime minister since it plunged into civil war two years ago and following months of steady advances by the military against its paramilitary rival. Kamil al-Taib Idris will be tasked with forming the country's transitional government, a move long touted by military chief Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan, particularly after the army regained control of Khartoum in March and ousted the Rapid Support Forces from the capital. The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 when the military and the RSF turned against each other in a struggle for power. Their battles spread from Khartoum to around the country. At least 20,000 people have been killed, but the real toll is probably far higher. Nearly 13 million people have fled their homes, 4 million of them streaming into neighboring countries. Half the population of 50 million faces hunger. The last prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, resigned in 2022 during a political deadlock and widespread pro-democracy protests. Journalist and political analyst Osman Mirghani said that appointing Idris marks an important step toward restoring civilian-led rule and addressing Sudan's political crisis. "His chances of being accepted by various communities of the Sudanese society seems higher, even among those who support the RSF, because he has no political affiliations,' he said. The RSF and its allies signed a charter in February in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, to establish a parallel government. The charter calls for "a secular, democratic and decentralized state,' in a nod to growing calls by Sudan's many communities for autonomy from Khartoum. Idris had previously worked as Sudan's legal adviser at its U.N. mission and is a member of the U.N. International Law Commission, according to his social media profile.
