Reports of an RSF attack on army-held El-Obeid indicate that the paramilitary group is about to launch an assault on the major city.
Published on November 5, 2025
An attack on a funeral in the major city of El-Obeid in Sudan North Kordofan According to the United Nations, 40 people have been killed in the state.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, citing local sources, that the attack in the state capital, which is still being conducted by the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), took place without elucidating when it happened or who was behind it.
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Reports of the attack came as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appeared poised to invade the city as army units converged to repel them.
“The security situation in the Kordofan region continues to deteriorate,” OCHA said. “Once again, we call on an immediate cessation of hostilities and on all parties to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.”
Fighting in the oil-rich region has intensified over the past week after the RSF took control of the town of Bara, 60km (37 miles) north of the city, from the SAF.
In parallel, RSF seized control Al-FasherThe capital of North Darfur state, following the withdrawal of the SAF. More than 70,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas since the RSF took over. And.
Witnesses and human rights groups have reported cases of “summary executions”, sexual violence and massacres of civilians.
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at the Yale School of Public Health, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that RSF had “started digging mass graves and collecting bodies all over the city”.
Even UN officials warned Thousands of people are believed to be trapped in al-Fashar this week.
A devastating civil war broke out in 2023, when a power struggle between the RSF and the SAF led to fighting in the capital, Khartoum.
Since then, the RSF has seized control of a third of the country in a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced 12 million, nearly a quarter of its population, making it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN.
Sudan’s Defense Minister Hassan Kabrun said on Tuesday that the SAF would press for the fight against the RSF after the country’s Security and Defense Council met to discuss a ceasefire proposal from the United States.