Darfur Follow-ups: El Geneina
Today, Friday, the Rapid Support Forces announced their control of the command of the army’s 15th Infantry Division in the city of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, at a time when the two parties to the conflict have not yet issued an official statement regarding the field situation.
Rapid Support members posted videos on social media platforms from inside the army headquarters announcing the downing of the army headquarters in the city since the early hours of this morning.
The Rapid Support Forces announced that they had besieged the headquarters of the 15th Division in El Geneina from all directions since Wednesday morning, and said that they had given the army 6 hours to surrender and leave the division, otherwise they would attack the command in the event of failure to respond.
Citizens of El Geneina who came to Chad revealed fierce clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the vicinity of the 15th Infantry Division Command, in which they used all types of heavy and light weapons, leaving dozens of civilians dead and wounded.
According to the El Geneina Emergency Room, large numbers of Rapid Support forces have been launching continuous attacks since last Wednesday on the command of the 15th Infantry Division, El Geneina.
They also clashed with an army force in the Krenik locality, east of El Geneina, and took control of the army garrison in the city, and deployed in the locality that It is the state gate from the eastern side.
An emergency room said that clashes between the army and the Rapid Support militia were forcing the remaining residents to leave the city, explaining that for the third day in a row, the remaining residents of El Geneina continued to flow towards the Adre border entrance, fleeing the war in El Geneina in very tragic circumstances.
With large numbers of victims of mutual bombing between the army and the Rapid Support, the “Rapid” this week took control of the army headquarters in the city of Zalingei in central Darfur, a few days after it took control of the headquarters of the 16th Division in the city of Nyala in the state of South Darfur, the second largest Sudanese city and the army’s command center in Western states.
Hemedti announced in a statement that his forces were moving to control all states of Sudan and all army sites in the country.