Army bases fall to RSF in Sudan forcing thousands to flee – as harrowing details of sieges emerge
Three out of four army headquarters in each of Darfur’s state capitals have fallen to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan – pushing thousands of people further into peril.
Among the thousands crossing the border into Chad so far this month to flee the violence are many mothers and children with no possessions, according to charity groups.
The RSF gains are the latest harrowing developments in more than half a year of fighting between the Darfur-born “janjaweed” militia turned paramilitary group and their former security partners and the national army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Clashes erupted earlier this year between the RSF and the SAF in a fight for political power that has killed thousands of people.
As the RSF captured the 15th infantry division army headquarters in Ardamata – a suburb of the West Darfur capital Al Geneina, home to the city’s barracks and a camp for internally displaced people – a full-blown siege was under way.
There are videos of the RSF rounding up army soldiers – along with footage of them whipping men and young boys and beating them with rifles.
“Sons of b*****!” they yell, and the dust rises as they deliver more blows.
Various human rights monitors from Darfur confirmed that the victims of violence in this particular video were civilians held in the Ardamata area – and punished on the basis of their Masalit tribe and assumed affinity with the army.
‘No one could go in or out’
Voice notes exclusively shared with Sky News – recorded in Al Geneina on the day – detail the siege conditions imposed by the RSF and allied Arab militias on the civilian population as they rounded up army soldiers on 1 November.
“The army is surrendering and asking for guarantees so that they can leave,” says one Al Geneina resident.
They added: “But the Arabs said they won’t let the head of army intelligence go even if he surrenders and said he caused a lot of problems for them and many died.”
Another resident describes the lockdown.
“The people who could escape walked by foot from Ardamata to Al Geneina [city].
“But between afternoon and sunset prayer, they closed the road and whoever was in stayed in – and whoever was out stayed out – no one could go in or out.”
She goes on to list the roads that were closed off.
“Um Duweim Way was closed. The way to Durti was also closed and they beat people up and took their phones,” she says.
“The only way was through Tile’a but some people also said it is closed and they are looting people who try and take that way.”
People have been heading across the border to Chad to escape the violence
Thousands forced to flee across border with nothing
Testimony shared by another Al Geneina resident at the time via text says “the 15th infantry division is now besieged from every direction”.
Some civilians and dozens of troops were eventually released and fled to Chad for safety where they laid down their arms.
The border authority told Sky News they were absorbed by the long-established Sudan-Chad joint border force.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has said that 7,000 people crossed the border from West Darfur to eastern Chad in the first three days of November alone.
Many of them are mothers and children who fled with nothing.
“The men are definitely not allowed to leave so they tried to get the women out,” says one of the residents via a voice note.
Multiple sources in Al Geneina say that hundreds were killed during the takeover, though the final number of deaths is unknown and difficult to measure.
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Thousands flee the war in Sudan
‘They use sexual violence against women’
The siege of Ardamata by the RSF is almost a replica of their siege of Al Geneina on 15 June that led to a city-wide massacre.
Sky News was able to verify mass graves where bodies were dumped in the aftermath.
A human rights defender and researcher of gender-based violence from Al Geneina, who fled after the June massacre, says this pattern is a pathway to increased sexual assaults on women.
“After these men are executed, there are a lot of widowed women who are exposed,” she says on the condition of anonymity.
“What I saw from these militias is that they use sexual violence against women – young girls and even the elderly – who are also whipped by the RSF and displaced en masse.”
Several women and girls have shared horrifying experiences of sexual assault with her since the war started on 15 April.
“The women being harmed by the RSF cannot now be left to their protection,” she added.
Read more:
Sudan’s escalating conflict sees Khartoum descend into chaos
Refugees with gunshot wounds stream in from Darfur
Mothers and children have been leaving Darfur with hardly any possessions
Entire neighbourhoods surrounded by fighting despite peace talks
In Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, entire neighbourhoods in Omdurman and Bahri have been besieged and cut off from food, water and electricity.
They are surrounded by fighting and RSF positions, with no humanitarian corridors allowing for entry of aid or medical care.
Some concerned family members have not been able to reach loved ones there in two weeks.
Shelling by the RSF and army airstrikes have been killing innocent civilians in the capital since the early days of the war.
Peace talks in Jeddah have failed to produce a ceasefire agreement between the army and RSF that would provide much-needed safety and relief.
Both sides have announced a commitment to aid access, a UN-led humanitarian forum and a separate communication mechanism.
However, these outcomes carry little credence as fighting continues on the ground and after several false ceasefire declarations made early in the war.
On 11 October, Sudan’s UN representative, aligned with the army, voted no on a UN Human Rights Council vote on a fact-finding mission to investigate abuses committed during this conflict.
World
Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake causes tsunami in Russia’s Far East – with warnings issued for Japan, Hawaii and Alaska
A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, causing a tsunami.
A tsunami of up to four metres (13 feet) was recorded in Kamchatka Peninsula, leading to evacuations and damaging buildings, officials said.
Tsunami warnings have been issued for Japan, the Philippines, Hawaii and parts of Alaska in the US.
The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management in Hawaii has called for the evacuation of some coastal areas, writing on X: “Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected.”
The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit at 7pm local time (6am UK time).
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said waves of one to three meters (three to 10 feet) above tide level were possible along some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov had earlier said: “Today’s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors.”
Follow latest: Tsunami live updates
Several people in the region sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister told Russia’s Tass state news agency.
“Unfortunately, there are some people injured during the seismic event. Some were hurt while running outside, and one patient jumped out of a window. A woman was also injured inside the new airport terminal,” Mr Melnikov said.
Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street, while cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed on roads and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.
Power outages and mobile phone service failures were also reported in the capital of the Kamchatka region.
The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko.
He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.
A regional branch of Russia’s geophysical service has said that “significant, noticeable” aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 7.5 after expected to continue for at least another month.
Japan issued a tsunami warning, saying it expects waves as high as three metres to arrive along large coastal areas along the Pacific Ocean.
Waves off the coast of the Hokkaido Prefecture in Japan after the tsunami warning was issued. Pic: AP
It has ordered the evacuation of some areas.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands.
A tsunami warning also was extended to the US state of Hawaii, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
A tsunami “watch” was issued for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred about 125 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up twice from 8.0 and 8.7 to 8.8 earlier.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s disaster management agency has warned that the country’s coastal areas could expect “strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore”.
In a national advisory alert, Civil Defence New Zealand said there was no immediate need to evacuate but said citizens should stay away from beaches and shore areas.
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“Children are eating out of piles of garbage” – that was the answer from UNICEF’s Salim Oweis when I asked if aid was now getting to those who need it.
The phone call was intended for background to try to get a clearer idea of the latest aid distribution in Gaza, but it’s a conversation I won’t forget.
“Parents are crushing whatever they can into water, most likely unclean water, because there is no infant milk or formula. The reports are horrific,” says Salim.
“Our colleagues are struggling to find enough food for themselves.”
Latest: Trump tells Sky he’s trying to get Gaza ‘straightened out’
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Sky News on Gaza aid-drop plane
A woman with an air-dropped food parcel in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It’s been three days since Israel announced humanitarian pauses to allow aid to get to starving people in Gaza but it’s not yet being felt on the ground.
I’m told more aid trucks have entered Kerem Shalom – the border crossing between Gaza and Israel – but that’s only the first stage of the journey.
The aid then needs to be collected and brought inside the Gaza Strip, then taken to partners on the ground for distribution.
It’s a lengthy process, and it needs to be accelerated with urgency.
Read more:
Mile after mile of rubble – the view from an aid plane
Israeli rights organisations accuse country of genocide
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Trump: Gaza children ‘look very hungry’
So far, lorries carrying famine preventative supplies have been collected – that’s high-energy biscuits, food for children between six months and two years, infant formula, vaccines and nappies.
Therapeutic food, which has a peanut butter like consistency, and is aimed to treat malnutrition has arrived at Kerem Shalom but there’s no confirmation yet on whether it’s made it in.
I had not heard of therapeutic food before. I’ve since learnt it is high in energy and micronutrients and won’t treat the complications of malnutrition, but will get a child out of the danger zone.
Vials of the DTP vaccine and infant formula were collected at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday. Pic: UNICEF
There is an ongoing issue of desperate people attempting to loot these lorries as they enter Gaza.
“The more aid that goes in, the more the looting will decrease because people will trust that there is now food coming back in,” says Salim.
But the amount getting in is still a fraction of what is needed.
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Israeli organisations accuse Israel of genocide
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The situation is so desperate, not everyone can wait until tomorrow for help. People are now dying everyday in Gaza due to hunger.
There is no time for wrangling over detail. Food is needed in mass quantities immediately. We have had warnings for months that Gaza was on the brink of famine. It’s now here.
For those working to help the most vulnerable and innocent in Gaza, it feels extremely personal.
“The rest of the world has failed the children and the civilians of Gaza,” says Salim.
“The world is numb and leaders of the world are apparently deaf.”
We are on our way to Gaza with the Jordanian military.
The aircraft is hot and noisy and as we get closer, the atmosphere gets more tense. Aircrew gesture with their hands to tell us how many minutes there are to go. Fifteen. Six. One.
The Jordanian military C-130 flies out over the sea before banking and heading inland for Gaza. The parachutes, attached to the top of each of the eight pallets, are prepared for the drop.
As land approaches, I look down. The ground is modern and built up – we’re still over southern Israel.
Then a few short minutes later, it’s clear we’ve crossed Gaza’s border.
The ground turns grey, the shapes of buildings disappear, there are no cars, no people.
You can see the outline of communities and villages that are now flattened. Mile after mile of grey rubble.
This mission by the Royal Jordanian Air Force is one of the first aid drop flights since Israel announced they could resume. It is carrying eight tonnes of food and baby formula.
Jordanian military personnel load aid parcels on to a plane in Zarqa, Jordan. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Foreign nations know this is a deeply flawed way of delivering aid – road convoys are far more effective and can carry far more – but the Jordanian flight crew say the need in Gaza is so urgent, it’s simply an attempt to do something.
When the aircraft ramp opens, the aid is pushed out and it’s gone in seconds.
The parachutes seem peaceful as they open and their fall slows. But dropping food from the sky is a dangerous and undignified way to feed people.
On the ground it’s chaos.
Our colleagues in Gaza say the fighting for food has become lethal – gangs are now punching and stabbing people to reach it first. Most critically, it’s not getting to the weakest. To those who really need it.
One man becomes emotional as he describes racing to find food and leaving with nothing.
“I came only for my son,” he says. “I wouldn’t come here if it was just for me. When you have a child, they need bread.”
He’s an engineer in normal times and seems in disbelief that his life has come to this. “The aid comes from the sky and we have to run after it. I’ve never had to do this in my life.”
Read more:
Why are aid airdrops so dangerous?
Inside Gaza’s Nasser Hospital
Jordanian military personnel drop aid parcels over Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Humanitarian aid is airdropped over the central Gaza Strip, as seen from Khan Younis. Pic: AP
It is hoped Israel’s humanitarian pauses in fighting will rapidly increase food distribution by road but it’s very unclear how that is going.
Hospitals in Gaza have reported another 14 deaths from starvation in the last 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday.
Airstrikes killed another at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said.
We cannot verify these numbers because Israel has not allowed international journalists access to Gaza.
And Monday’s flight came with strict media conditions.
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We were told the Israeli side had warned that any shots of Gaza filmed from the air could result in these aid flights being cancelled.
But Israel’s tight grip has not stopped the images from Gaza getting out, horrifying people around the world.
The question now is what more the international community will do about it.
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