AFRICA/SUDAN – The conflict moves to Kordofan

Khartoum – At least 40 people died in a drone attack on a funeral in the city of El Obeid, the capital of the Sudanese region of North Kordofan.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported the attack yesterday, November 5, without specifying when it occurred or who was responsible. According to Sudanese media, the Rapid Support Forces carried out drone strikes on a funeral in El Obeid on October 5.
The intensification of attacks on the capital of North Kordofan suggests that the conflict between the RSF and the regular army has moved to this region between Darfur and the federal capital, Khartoum. Following the capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur , the RSF consolidated their control over this vast region in western Sudan before advancing eastward toward Kordofan, where the tragedy of the siege of El Fasher was repeated. El Obeid was surrounded on three sides after the RSF captured several neighboring towns. This encirclement led to mass flight and fear among the inhabitants.
The town of Babnusa in western Kordofan was also surrounded. The RSF announced that they had shot down a SAF military transport plane carrying supplies for the soldiers of the 22nd Infantry Division entrenched in Babnusa.
While the army denies that the aircraft was shot down, claiming it crashed due to technical issues, other sources allege that the Russian-made Il-76 was struck by a Chinese surface-to-air missile system, likely supplied to the RSF by a third country identified by several observers as the United Arab Emirates.
In this context, Somali Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi confirmed that transport aircraft from the UAE use Bosaso Airport in Somalia’s Puntland region as a logistical hub for transporting unspecified cargo to locations in Niger, Chad, and western Sudan, adding: “We have also received reports that Colombian mercenaries allegedly departed from Bosaso Airport, although we have not been able to confirm this.”

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