ALBAWABA - In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announced capturing a key town in Sennar state in the southeastern parts of Sudan.
"We have liberated the 17th Infantry Division from Singa, the capital of Sennar state" the RSF post reads on X.
"Following the liberation of the 17th Infantry Division, the Rapid Support Forces heroes taught the Burhan militiamen lessons in heroism and courage. All these cowards had to do was escape, followed by failure, loss, and despair" the post continued.
Prior to the announcement, intense fighting and heavy artillery were heard across the city, with citizens panicking as they continued to seek safe havens from the war atrocities that had been tearing through the country for more than a year.
Residents of the area spoke to AFP, expressing despair and fear as the situation continues to worsen. "The RSF have deployed in the streets of Singa," an eyewitness told AFP. They also said that they had seen Sudanese Army aircraft hovering over the city.
The RSF holds the majority of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, Al-Jazira state in the middle, Darfur's large western area, and part of Kordofan to the south. Sennar state already has over one million displaced Sudanese. It connects central Sudan with the army-controlled southeast.
Social media posts showed thousands of people fleeing in their cars and on foot, while witnesses told AFP that "thousands of people have taken refuge on the east bank of the Blue Nile" river east of Singa.
Several aid groups warned that Sudan's "man-made famine" might be considerably worse than expected, with the world's worst death toll in decades if fighting generals are not put under additional international pressure.
According to a study by the UN released on Thursday, 755,000 people in Sudan are on the verge of hunger, the worst death toll since the 1980s, when Ethiopia's famine stunned the world.
