Militias aligned with Sudan’s Islamist Movement have withdrawn from a string of key towns in Kordofan, clearing the way for Rapid Support Forces (RSF) units to press toward the regional capital, El-Obeid.
In just three months General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) and allied Islamist factions have ceded En-Nahud, Al-Khawi, Umm Samima, Umm Sayala and surrounding villages after sustaining heavy casualties—particularly the Sudan Shield Force in the battle of Umm Sayala.
Encirclement under way
The RSF now controls Umm Dabus to the east of Bara, as well as the settlements of al-Markha, Karar, al-Jaʿalin and Wad al-Zaki. To the west, fighters have seized Abu Qoud (53 km from El-Obeid) and Umm Samima, a strategic crossroads linking Kordofan with Darfur. RSF commanders say they already hold the western, northern and parts of the northeastern outskirts of El-Obeid and are preparing to storm the SAF’s Fifth Infantry Division.
In a statement, the RSF urged residents of El-Obeid to stay indoors and avoid SAF or militia sites, pledging to protect civilians “in full compliance with international humanitarian law.”
Retired brigadier-general Yahya Mohamed called El-Obeid “effectively besieged.” While the SAF could attempt a counter-offensive, he said, betting on urban combat carries huge risks: “The city’s fall would reopen the road to Omdurman—and likely prove decisive in the wider war.”
