Sudanese army, RSF clash over air base

KHARTOUM — Fierce clashes have been raging between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, to control an air base south of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, according to eyewitnesses and medical sources on Monday.

The clashes focused around the Al-Nujoumi Air Base in the Jabal Awliya area, about 50 kilometers south of Khartoum, adjacent to the White Nile State, the eyewitnesses said.

"Due to the fire exchanged between the two sides, a number of artillery shells fell in the Jabal Awliya neighborhoods," an eyewitness from the Jabal Awliya area said.

Reem Ahmed, the director-general of Al-Gitaina Teaching Hospital in White Nile State, said in a statement, "The hospital received 18 injured patients from Jabal Awliya as a result of renewed clashes in the area."

"The clashes left three dead and 15 others injured, all of them belonging to the SAF," she said.

Meanwhile, responding to the RSF claim that it had captured the Al-Nujoumi Air Base, the SAF said the base was still under its control.

The RSF posted video clips on its page on social media platform X on Monday, showing a number of its members inside a military site containing tanks and aircraft belonging to the Sudanese army, and claiming that the site was the Al-Nujoumi air base.

The SAF released video clips on its Facebook page, showing army units repulsing a major attack by the RSF against army positions at the air base.

Deadly clashes have been going on between the SAF and RSF in Khartoum and other areas since April 15, killing up to 9,000 people by October, forcing more than 6 million displaced within and outside Sudan and leaving 25 million in need of aid, according to the latest Sudan situation report on Sunday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The head of UN humanitarian operations on Monday denounced "extreme violence" against civilians caught up in the conflict.

Xinhua - Agencies