RSF preventing civilians from fleeing Bahri as fighting with army intensifies

KHARTOUM, JUNE 8, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – Sudan’s paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is preventing civilians from fleeing Khartoum Bahri as fighting between the group and the armed forces escalates in Bahri and Omdurman, eyewitnesses told Sudans Post.

Speaking to Sudans Post, several South Sudanese who were leaving Bahri for Unity State said that they have been prevented from crossing the El Halfaya street by elements of the RSF which they said are deployed to the entry of the bridge.

“They have prevented us from crossing the bridge to Khartoum so that we can leave. There are several buses rented by sons and daughters of Unity State but now we are stuck here. The RSF don’t want us to cross the bridge,” one South Sudanese told said.

Activists have also circulated videos of many buses being prevented from the RSF from crossing the bridge, with some accusing the paramilitary group of using civilians as human shield as fighting with the Sudanese army escalates further.

“The fighting between the army and the militia Rapid Support Forces has escalated in several areas including in Bahri and this is why the militia does not want the civilians to leave the area so that they use them as human shield,” one activist told Sudans Post.

Fighting broke out in the capital Khartoum on April 15 after elements of the RSF attacked several army and government positions. The fighting has killed over two thousand civilians, wounded over six thousand and displaced millions from their homes.

Calls by the international and regional community for the parties to stop fighting have fallen on deaf ears as both parties have shown lack of willingness to embrace peaceful means to resolve disagreements.