The Rapid Support Forces launched an attack with marches, during the night, on the city of Damazin, the capital of the Sudanese Blue Nile state bordering Ethiopia, according to what local authorities and witnesses reported on Monday.
Two people told Agence France-Presse that they “woke up to the sounds of explosions,” while the Sudanese army used anti-aircraft guns to confront the attack.
A third person said he saw a fire that broke out “after a drone fell near the airport, causing a large explosion.”
In a statement issued on Monday morning, the Blue Nile State government confirmed the attack and explained that army anti-military forces were able to confront the marches, without indicating any casualties. She said that the authorities responded to “the enemy’s attempts to target the city of Damazin with drones,” adding that the situation was “under control.”
The ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, since April 2023, has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, according to estimates by humanitarian workers, and has also caused the two largest hunger and displacement crises in the world.
Al-Damazin remained relatively safe throughout the war, but during the current year, the Rapid Support Forces and their allies launched a strong attack along the Ethiopian border, heading north towards the city. The last known location of the “Rapid Support” forces is about 100 kilometers south of the city of Damazin.
The fighting led to the displacement of nearly 100,000 people across Blue Nile State this year, about half of whom reside in Damazin. An attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the city would put the Sudanese army in front of a difficult challenge, as it would be forced to defend positions on two fronts at the same time: the Blue Nile Front and the Kordofan region, where drone strikes that lasted for a year led both sides to a state of military stalemate.
Sudan has repeatedly accused the Rapid Support Forces of launching attacks on the Blue Nile from within Ethiopian territory. Ethiopia has denied accusations that it harbors fighters from the Rapid Support Forces, but local sources say that the porous border between the two countries represents a major supply line for the paramilitary forces and their allies.
Libyan reactions varied regarding the meeting between the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, and the President of the Supreme Council of State, Mohamed Takala, in the Turkish capital, Ankara, last Thursday, in which it was agreed to resume the meetings of the “6+6” Committee in the coming days to complete its tasks related to electoral laws.
According to political voices and observers, this step not only shows Saleh and Takala’s desire to regain the initiative and impose their control over the election file, but it also represents an implicit rejection of the “4+4” agreement sponsored by the UN mission, which was signed at the end of last month.
Muhammad Moazib, head of the Political Committee of the Supreme Council of State, believes that the announcement by the presidents of the two chambers to return to complete the meetings of the “6+6” committee would “change the convictions of a large number of members of the Supreme Council of State who had accepted the outcomes of (4+4) due to the lack of an alternative.” Moazib believes that completing the meetings of the “6+6” committee will actually lead to holding general elections.
In response to a question about the expected position of the active forces, specifically the interim “unity” government headed by Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, and the “National Army,” on the Aguila and Takala agreement, he said: “With the exception of Dabaiba and those loyal to him; Everyone in western Libya, whether civilian or armed forces, welcomes it because they all rejected the outcomes of the (4+4) agreement, and before that, the American initiative.”
On Sunday, members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard in western Libya closed the main gate of the Zawiya Oil Refinery Complex, in a new escalation in protest against their financial and administrative conditions, and demanded the interim “National Unity” government headed by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba to implement their demands related to increasing salaries.
The closure of the portal comes days after a sit-in carried out by the agency’s employees in front of the Al-Zawiya refinery, during which they demanded the settlement of their financial and administrative conditions and the adjustment of their salaries, in addition to the implementation of the unified salary schedule.
The economic expert in the oil sector, Mohamed Al-Shehati, says that the Oil Facilities Guard is responsible for logistically securing what is outside the walls of the refinery, including pipelines entering with crude oil and exiting with products, and the movement of cars and trucks.
The economic expert warned that the Zawiya refinery “does not have alternatives with the same efficiency, and that stopping it may mean resorting to importing products from abroad,” noting that this option itself may face logistical problems.
Meanwhile, several Libyan cities, including Tarhuna, Tripoli, Al-Zawiya, Batin Al-Jabal, and Bani Walid, witnessed widespread sit-ins and strikes by teachers with the start of the new school year, Sunday, as teachers’ unions refused to start classes until their accumulated financial and job demands were met.
