American Media Outlets Track Alarming Shifts in the Sudan War

Sudan Events – Agencies

Leading American outlets — The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN — have converged in their coverage of a critical turning point in Sudan’s conflict: the fall of El Fasher in Darfur to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The reports highlight allegations of ethnic massacres and the involvement of regional powers — notably the United Arab Emirates — in arming the militia. Collectively, the reports agree that the Sudanese war has entered a deadlier and more complex phase amid growing international paralysis in containing the humanitarian collapse.

The New York Times

The New York Times focused on recent developments in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and the Sudanese army’s withdrawal from its last major military base in the region, marking the RSF’s full control over Darfur. Describing the event as “a pivotal shift in Sudan’s brutal civil war,” the paper reported that the city’s fall, after an 18-month siege, has intensified fears that the paramilitary forces — already dominant across much of Darfur — could embark on a new wave of ethnically driven killings.

The report depicted El Fasher as one of the most devastating battlefields in a conflict that has now entered its third year. Its capture, it said, meant that Sudan’s army had lost its final foothold in a vast region roughly the size of France. The RSF, according to the Times, redoubled its efforts to seize the city last April after being expelled from the capital, Khartoum. Months of relentless drone strikes and heavy artillery bombardments culminated in the RSF taking the city’s main military base on Friday, scattering Sudanese troops and allied Darfuri fighters into residential neighborhoods.

The report noted widespread claims on social media and from aid groups accusing RSF fighters of pursuing and killing civilians fleeing the city after army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ordered a withdrawal “to spare civilians and prevent further destruction.”

Citing Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, the Times said satellite imagery provided evidence of suspected mass killings carried out by the RSF during the city’s fall. The images showed clusters of bodies near an earthen berm built by the militia over the past five months to encircle El Fasher, consistent with reports of “executions near the barrier and killings of those attempting to escape.”

Verified video footage reviewed by the newspaper showed jubilant RSF fighters riding camels and motorbikes through empty streets over the weekend, while another clip depicted them at the deserted airport — one of the army’s last positions. Human Rights Watch said the images from El Fasher “reveal a grim reality: the RSF is committing mass atrocities with near-total impunity.”

CNN

CNN published an in-depth report titled “Fears of a Bloodbath as Rebels Besiege Thousands in a Sudanese City.” It quoted several UN officials expressing concern over developments in El Fasher.

Justin Lynch, Sudan researcher and managing director of Conflict Insights, told CNN that RSF control of the city marked “the beginning of what we fear could be a massacre of civilians.” UN humanitarian coordinator Tom Fletcher said hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped without food or medical care as escape routes are blocked amid “intense shelling and ground assaults engulfing the city.”

While the RSF pledged to protect civilians and offer safe corridors, the UN Human Rights Office said it had received “multiple, deeply disturbing reports” of atrocities by RSF fighters, including summary executions of unarmed men and footage showing dozens shot or buried in mass graves. Several reports indicated that the killings appeared to be ethnically motivated.

Ghettachio Biru, senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), warned of “a high risk of ethnically targeted attacks, especially against non-Arab groups.” CNN noted that army chief Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (“Hemedti”) are battling for control of Sudan, both having played pivotal roles in the 2021 coup that derailed Sudan’s democratic transition.

Both men face Western sanctions over war crimes, but the U.S. has specifically accused Hemedti’s RSF and allied Arab militias of committing genocide — the second such declaration in Sudan within two decades. In announcing its finding last January, Washington said the RSF carried out “deliberate attacks on civilians,” including systematic killings of “men and boys — even infants — based on ethnicity,” as well as the “targeted rape and sexual violence” of women from certain groups and the “murder of fleeing civilians.”

The Sudanese military government has accused the UAE of supplying weapons to the RSF, a charge Abu Dhabi denies. Biru noted that in Kordofan, Sudan’s army and its allies seek to secure key routes linking central Sudan to Darfur, while the RSF is consolidating its hold in the west to cement a de facto breakaway administration.

With cease-fire talks stalling, analysts told CNN that the outcomes of the battles for El Fasher and Kordofan could determine the future trajectory of Sudan’s war and its political fate. International human-rights lawyer Yona Diamond urged the global community to act, warning that “the world cannot allow the RSF to carry out another genocide in Darfur with impunity.”

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal concentrated on the UAE’s role in the conflict, reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies say Abu Dhabi has this year supplied growing quantities of weapons — including advanced Chinese-made drones — to a major Sudanese militia, bolstering a force accused of genocide and fueling one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

According to the Journal, assessments by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department’s intelligence bureau indicate a surge in Emirati military shipments to the RSF since last spring. These included Chinese “Rainbow”-series drones, light and heavy weapons, vehicles, artillery, mortars, and ammunition.

The paper noted the paradox of the UAE — a close U.S. partner and broker of the Abraham Accords — playing a peacemaking role in some conflicts while simultaneously arming combatants when it serves its interests. Abu Dhabi, it said, intervened militarily in Yemen against the Houthis and supplied arms to a Russian-backed warlord in Libya before now funneling weapons into Sudan after the RSF’s loss of Khartoum in March.

American officials told the Journal the Emirati arms flow helped the RSF rebound and relaunch offensives that produced some of the war’s worst devastation. “This war would have ended without the UAE,” said Cameron Hudson, a former chief of staff to several U.S. envoys to Sudan. “The only thing keeping the RSF in the fight is the massive military support they’re getting from Abu Dhabi.”

Libyan, Egyptian, and European officials corroborated reports of expanded Emirati arms shipments. The UAE’s Foreign Ministry “strongly rejected” the accusations, calling them “baseless,” while an RSF spokesperson dismissed them as “government propaganda.”

Although Washington has stopped short of directly accusing Abu Dhabi, it has condemned foreign arms supplies to Sudan’s warring sides and reiterated its commitment to a lasting peace and a cease-fire.

The Journal added that the UAE’s backing of the RSF aligns with its strategic and economic interests: Sudan’s Red Sea coastline, a canceled $6-billion Emirati port project, and massive gold reserves — much of which historically flows to Dubai. After the RSF’s setbacks, U.S. intelligence reportedly tracked renewed Emirati arms transfers through Somalia and Libya, including Chinese CH-95 drones capable of precision strikes and 24-hour surveillance.

According to the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, drones matching these specifications were seen flying over Darfur during the RSF’s latest offensive. The UAE had previously sent arms shipments to Sudan via Chad under the guise of humanitarian aid, the paper recalled.

Recent months have seen intensified airlifts through Somalia and Libya, followed by overland routes into Sudan, U.S. and European officials said. These supplies, they added, have emboldened the RSF, enabling it to tighten its siege of El Fasher, build an earthen barrier around the city, and cut off food and humanitarian access — deepening a catastrophe the world still struggles to halt.

Source: Mowatinoun