Paramilitary force pushes east in new escalation of Sudan's war

The paramilitary force battling the army in Sudan's civil war is shifting its focus eastward after consolidating its grip over Darfur last month, reigniting violence and launching drone attacks across the country's oil-producing southern areas

The paramilitary force battling the army in Sudan's civil war is shifting its focus eastward after consolidating its grip over Darfur last month, reigniting violence and launching drone attacks across the country's oil-producing southern areas.

Escalating drone strikes and new deployments of troops and weapons by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army suggest both sides are now centring their efforts on Kordofan, a region comprised of three states that serves as a buffer between the RSF's western Darfur strongholds and the army-held states in the east.

The RSF accepted a ceasefire proposal by the United States last week after an international outcry over accounts that it had killed large groups of civilians as it overran al-Fashir, the army's last significant holdout in Darfur.

The army has not agreed to the ceasefire, which could provide a window for more deliveries of desperately needed humanitarian aid after two and a half years of conflict, and fighting has not abated.

Fighters with the Rapid Support Forces celebrate in the streets of El-Fashir in Sudan's Darfur region in an image released on the RSF Telegram account on Oct. 26.RSF via AFP - Getty ImagesWitness accounts of revenge attacksThe RSF started moving on Kordofan at the same time as it took al-Fashir late last month, seizing the town of Bara in North Kordofan state, a crucial strategic link between Darfur and central Sudan. The army had recaptured the town just two months earlier.