Sudan’s Army Chief Orders Offensive to CAR Border After North Kordofan Gains

Sudan’s army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has ordered a sweeping offensive intended to clear the country as far as the border with the Central African Republic, a senior military officer announced on Sunday. The directive follows rapid gains in North Kordofan that reopened a strategic supply corridor.

What did the army capture?

A ground operation launched on Saturday across North Kordofan state pushed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces out of the city of Bara and the areas of Jabrat Al-Sheikh, Al-Baraka, Um Qurfa and Um Sayala.

Joint Force spokesperson Mutawakil Ali Wakeel said the army, the Joint Force, Qashan forces and supporting troops secured all five locations after heavy clashes.

Um Sayala sits near the export road linking North Kordofan to Omdurman. Taking it gives the military a new supply corridor to El Obeid and reduces the operational threat to Khartoum and the White Nile states.

Military officials said 73 heavily armed RSF vehicles were destroyed and several others seized during the fighting.

What is the new directive?

Speaking to troops and supporters at the Military Medical Hospital in Omdurman, Assistant Commander-in-Chief Yasir al-Atta said forces would advance in successive waves toward Um Dafuq on the south-western border.

Al-Atta said RSF fighters and foreign combatants faced a choice between surrendering and leaving the country, and pledged that the military would dismantle all RSF positions.

Defence Minister Hassan Dawoud Kabroun said last week that the armed forces had made significant advances in Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, and that operations would continue until the RSF was defeated.

Whether the stated objective is achievable is a separate question. The distance from current front lines to the Central African Republic border runs across Darfur, where the RSF retains its strongest position.

Are civilians returning home?

United Nations data indicates that millions of displaced Sudanese have begun returning to their home areas, a rare positive signal in a war that is now in its fourth year and has produced one of the world’s largest displacement crises.

The agency attributed the increase largely to the army’s earlier recapture of Khartoum, Sennar and Al-Jazirah states, which reopened areas that had been inaccessible during the fighting.

Humanitarian organisations caution that the underlying crisis remains severe. Large parts of the country still see active combat, and returnees face widespread destruction and limited access to essential services including water, health care and electricity.

How did the war begin?

Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when a dispute between the army and the RSF over plans to integrate the paramilitary force into the regular military collapsed into open fighting.

The two forces had previously been allies, jointly removing Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and later ousting the civilian-led transitional government in an October 2021 coup.

Regional powers have been drawn in. Analysts have identified the United Arab Emirates as the RSF’s principal foreign backer, an assessment Abu Dhabi has rejected. Diplomatic efforts through 2025 and 2026, including a proposed three-month humanitarian truce, have repeatedly failed to produce a ceasefire, with Burhan rejecting negotiations while his forces held the advantage.

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