Sudan’s army says it breaks siege of southern city, survivors recount hunger and death

By Eltayeb Siddig

AL-OBEID, Sudan, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Sudan’s army says it has broken a long siege of the southern city of al-Dalanj by RSF paramilitary forces, during which survivors said many people were killed in drone and artillery strikes as hunger spread and medicines became scarce.

One survivor told Reuters that residents had been reduced to eating leaves and animal skin, and that some children had died of hunger. Others said people had died because they could not get the medicines they needed or leave to get treatment.

The siege of al-Dalanj began soon after war broke out in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It intensified after the RSF joined forces last year with the SPLM-N, a rebel group that controls territory in the region. 

In a statement released late on Monday, the Sudanese army said “the armed forces and supporting forces were able to forcibly and decisively open the road to Al-Dalanj, after carrying out a successful military operation.”

The RSF did not respond to a request for comment on the army statement. Residents of al-Dalanj reported heavy drone attacks on Tuesday.

The victory, if sustained could signal a momentum shift after several RSF gains late last year.

Al-Dalanj is one of the largest cities in oil-producing South Kordofan province on Sudan’s southern border. Greater Kordofan has become the latest centre of fighting since the RSF captured al-Fashir, the army’s last holdout in the western Darfur region, in October. 

More than 25,000 people have been displaced from South Kordofan since then, according to the UN’s human rights office.

During a visit to Sudan last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned Sudanese and RSF officials to ensure that “crimes” committed during and after the takeover of al-Fashir “are not repeated” in South Kordofan, according to a statement. 

‘HUNGER AND HUMILIATION’

Residents who fled al-Dalanj before Monday described witnessing drone and artillery attacks, echoing accounts from al-Fashir during the RSF siege. Reuters was unable immediately to confirm their accounts.

“We left because of the hunger and humiliation,” said Haja Bahareldin, who spoke to Reuters with other women sheltering in a camp outside the city of al-Obeid to the north. “We couldn’t find work… we couldn’t find food.”

She said one of her children died of hunger along the way and her two twins died after her arrival.

“Now I have no small child to carry in my arms,” she said.

The Kordofan towns of al-Obeid and Kadugli have also been the scene of intense recent fighting. In Kadugli, while drone attacks have eased in recent days, the siege has caused sky-high prices and a scarcity of medicine as doctors flee along with others who can afford to, aid workers say.

In November, Kadugli was declared by international monitors to be in famine. International experts said al-Dalanj was likely to be experiencing the same, though the siege made data-gathering impossible.

Tambula Silia, another woman from al-Dalanj, said residents of the city had been reduced to eating leaves and animal skin and added: “For four or five months I didn’t have a single piece of bread for me or my child.”   

Zakia Ramadan, who said she fled to al-Dalanj from the nearby town of Habila after the RSF took it, said four of her children had died of hunger while sheltering there. 

Salma Mohamed, a resident of al-Dalanj, told Reuters it had been impossible to get her father out of the city when he needed a heart operation.

“We had to roam around until he died, we didn’t find a way to get him treatment,” she said.

Those who do manage to flee face a dangerous journey, also mirroring the stories of those who fled al-Fashir. Silia said that, among those who fled with her from al-Dalanj, “some were taken by the RSF and we don’t know where to.”

(Additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Alex Dziadosz and Timothy Heritage)