Sudan army refutes claim that RSF has seized key city of Babnusa | Sudan war News

The fall of the city, which is the gateway to the Darfur region of western Sudan, which the RSF recently took control of, could have a huge impact on the war.

Sudan’s military government said in a statement issued on Tuesday that it had foiled the RSF attack. The paramilitary organization claimed the previous day that it had taken full control of Babanusa, a major town in the vast central Sudanese region of West Kordofan.

Babanusa serves as the gateway to the Darfur region, which the paramilitary force took full control of last month, and all of western Sudan.

Video released by the RSF on Monday shows its fighters capturing a military base in Babanusa after a week-long siege. However, the SAF said it was still fighting in the city.

The RSF “launched a new attack on the city, which our forces decisively repulsed”, the armed forces’ official spokesman said in a statement.

“The army says fighting is ongoing, with their fighters still inside the city,” Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reported from Khartoum. “But we can definitely confirm that when it comes to the army headquarters, the RSF has taken control of it.”

If the RSF consolidates control of Babanusa, he said, it will “consolidate its control over the West Kordofan region” as well as “any major access route to the western part of the country”.

“The Sudanese army has to go through Babnussa to reach parts of Darfur or other parts of Kordofan, so losing the city would make regaining territory in Darfur even more challenging,” Morgan said.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that fierce clashes were also taking place in other parts of Kordofan, including the southern region of Abbasiya Tagali.

‘Ceasefire’ broken

The RSF’s attack on Babanusa builds on the group’s momentum after capturing the town of al-Fashar, the army’s last holdout in Darfur.

Witnesses and international aid agencies working on the ground have described widespread atrocities committed by the RSF. Evidence shows that RSF fighters have engaged in mass killings, rape and kidnapping.

The latest clashes also appear to break the unilateral ceasefire that the RSF announced following mediation efforts by the “Quad” – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States.

The SAF, which rejected the ceasefire terms presented by the Quad as too favorable to its rival, has accused the RSF of continuing attacks despite the declared ceasefire.

The government statement described the declared ceasefire as “nothing but a political and media ploy aimed at covering up (the RSF’s) field movements and the constant flow of Emirati support that fuels the war and kills the Sudanese people”.

The UAE has been widely accused of supporting the RSF with money and weapons, but has strongly denied any involvement.

Analysts say that if Babanusa falls completely, the RSF is likely to advance towards al-Obeid in North Kordofan.

If the city fell, the political blow would be huge, said Khulood Khair, founding director of Confluence Advisory, a UK-based risk management provider.

“It is a huge trading center, a regional capital and a major economic victory. It brings the RSF several steps closer to Khartoum.”

The RSF were driven out of the Sudanese capital in March, ending SAF dominance in more than two years of war.

But now the tables seem to be turning once again. Having lost Darfur entirely with the fall of al-Fashar, the SAF is now at risk of losing Kordofan as well.

“The RSF have momentum, which they will continue,” said Sudanese political analyst Dalia Abdelmoneim, pointing out that the RSF ally, the SPLM-N, already controls the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan.