April 17, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese army has evacuated residents of several neighbourhoods in Nyala, once the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of military facilities close to the 16th Infantry Division’s command center, became the capital of the South Darfur state.
The army and the RSF have been engaged in severe skirmishes in the South Darfur city since yesterday, during which heavy weapons were employed. The RSF-controlled Nyala International Airport and the military headquarters of both sides were the focal points of the fighting.
According to a statement provided to Sudan Tribune by the Nyala Coordination of the Resistance Committees, “the army asked residents of most neighborhoods in the city center to leave their areas for safe alternative locations.”
The shops in the Mawqif al-Jeneina and al-Maljah markets as well as the headquarters of a number of international organizations operating in the state, including UNICEF and the UNHCR, were allegedly looted, according to Nyala residents who spoke to Sudan Tribune.
Mustafa Suleiman, a paramedic at El Fasher Teaching Hospital in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, told Sudan Tribune that the hospital had treated more than 50 persons who had suffered significant injuries as a result of the skirmishes.
Suleiman disclosed a lack of medical personnel and supplies.
“We received calls about dead bodies dumped on the roads and about injured people who could not reach the hospital for treatment due to the closure of the roads by the armed forces of the army and Rapid Support,” he said.
