The suffering of civilians in El Fasher, located in Sudan’s Darfur region, continues unabated amidst relentless indiscriminate shelling targeting both civilians and vital infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and refugee camps.
In recent days, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with allied movements and factions, have called on El Fasher residents to evacuate through designated humanitarian corridors, urging them to seek aid and medical assistance at relief centers before relocating to safer areas away from the control of the Sudanese army and its allied militias, both of which have been accused of committing violations against civilians in recent months.
Taher Abu Bakr Hajar, leader of the Sudan Liberation Forces Alliance allied with the RSF, issued a statement days ago declaring: “El Fasher has become a military operations zone; therefore, we urge residents to evacuate the city to preserve their lives.”
Indiscriminate Bombardment:
The Sudanese army is conducting intense aerial bombardments on El Fasher using unmanned aerial vehicles, amid accusations of indiscriminately targeting residential neighborhoods.
In an official statement on July 10, the RSF announced the successful downing of a Turkish-made drone operated by the Sudanese army and extremist militias affiliated with the Islamic Movement, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization designated as a terrorist group in several Middle Eastern countries.
The RSF’s statement claimed that “the Turkish drone was indiscriminately bombing areas of El Fasher, targeting innocent civilians in Zamzam, Al-Hukuma, and Mellit, causing severe damage to hospitals, schools, and displaced persons’ camps.”
A report by the United Nations Panel of Experts on Sudan, submitted to the UN Security Council in April, revealed that the Sudanese army had carried out indiscriminate bombardments against civilians and civilian infrastructure. The report documented numerous violations, including alliances with extremist armed militias tasked with executing ground operations.
The UN report documented several incidents where healthcare facilities were directly targeted by the Sudanese army, most notably in May of last year when a heavy bomb was dropped just 50 meters from Babiker Nahar Children’s Hospital during an airstrike. The attack resulted in the deaths of two children, a healthcare worker, a civilian, and caused the hospital’s roof to collapse, inflicting extensive material damage.
The report further noted that Sudanese army bombardments in East Darfur directly struck a hospital and an adjacent school sheltering displaced families. The air raid killed at least 11 civilians, including women and children.
During a UN Security Council briefing on June 27, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, warned that “the increasing use of advanced weaponry in Sudan’s conflict, including long-range drones, has expanded the scope of hostilities, resulting in significant civilian casualties and mass displacement, as populated areas continue to be targeted.”
Turkish Weaponry Amplifies Sudanese Suffering:
The Sudanese army, under the leadership of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Armed Forces – has increasingly relied on military support from external actors, chiefly Turkey and Iran, to bolster its aerial capabilities, with Turkish-made Bayraktar Akinci drones now forming the backbone of its drone fleet.
In March, the European Center for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies revealed that a Turkish arms company had supplied Sudanese army units, based in Port Sudan, with ammunition, drones, and various types of bombs later used in indiscriminate attacks against civilians, documented by the United Nations and the Security Council in official reports.
The report stated that “a team from Turkey’s Baykar company was present in Sudan to oversee the smooth completion of the arms deal and supervise drone operations by dispatching senior personnel.” It added that several military operations in Sudan were conducted under the supervision of this Turkish team.
The report detailed two specific airstrikes by the Sudanese army: one on September 12 targeting an unfinished building, and another three days later on a large warehouse, both overseen by Baykar personnel utilizing Turkish drones and missiles.
Moreover, the Turkish company does not limit its support to merely supplying drones and missiles; it also sends teams and experts to train Sudanese army personnel and affiliated extremist Islamist factions on their deployment in the ongoing war that has ravaged Sudan since April 2023.
The Washington Post published a report in March confirming that the Turkish company had supplied Sudanese army forces with weapons, drones, and missiles. The newspaper released communications between Baykar experts and Sudanese combatants who deployed drones and missiles during attacks inside Sudan last September.
The American daily reported that “Baykar delivered at least $120 million worth of weapons to Sudan, including eight TB2 drones over the past year.” The Sudanese army now possesses Turkish-made TB2 and Bayraktar Akinci drones, as documented by tracking the flight paths of deliveries from Turkey to Port Sudan.
Militias fighting alongside the Sudanese army – primarily extremist Islamist brigades – are exploiting the conflict to further their agenda of reclaiming power, having been ousted by a popular uprising that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2019. These Islamist factions have since returned, bolstering the army’s grip on power and playing a pivotal role in the military coup led by al-Burhan against the civilian government in October 2021. Their influence has grown substantially over recent years, particularly since the beginning of this year, as they perpetrate atrocities and crimes against civilians, some of which bear ethnic and racial dimensions, including forced displacement campaigns in Khartoum and other major cities targeting residents of African descent.
In recent weeks, tensions have surfaced between the armed movements and extremist Islamist militias allied with al-Burhan’s forces, as they vie for greater shares in the prospective new government that Prime Minister Kamil Idris has been attempting to form since his appointment in May.
The rising influence of these extremist Islamist militias in Sudan is causing growing concern on both regional and international levels, especially amid reports confirming that these groups are receiving advanced weaponry from Turkey and Iran, enhancing their military capabilities and prolonging the conflict.
These militias are considered extensions of ideologically-driven jihadist movements, fundamentally aligned with known terrorist organizations such as ISIS and al-Qaeda. They employ religion as a pretext for violence, posing a grave threat to Sudan’s stability and to the broader region, amidst fears that Sudan may become a new hub for exporting armed extremism, as the Sudanese army increasingly relies on these brigades in a war that continues to devastate an already beleaguered and forgotten nation.
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