In the reference period,913 the SAF retained control over the country’s north,914 including the border with Egypt.915
With the onset of the conflict in mid-April 2023, the RSF claimed to control strategic locations in Northern state’s Merowe city,916 such as its airport and military base, after large numbers of RSF deployment there,917 a claim which was dismissed by the SAF.918 A mid-April 2023 article by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) described Merowe city as ‘a key part […] of the SAF's home base’ and Northern state as the ‘heartland of Sudan's military’.919
In December 2023, the Sudan War Monitor reported that RSF forces had ventured into the countryside of River Nile state, without managing to establish a ‘significant presence’920 in the state described as one of the SAF’s strongholds in the country by the Sudan Conflict Monitor, published by the Ayin Network and other organisations, in March 2024.921 According to Political Geography Now, all the checkpoints on the unpaved routes through the desert connecting Mellit district in North Darfur with Al Dabbah city in Northern State, which had previously been controlled by a number of neutral and pro-SAF Joint Force groups, were taken over by the RSF in mid-April 2024.922 A Sudan Times article reported that RSF-affiliated forces entered the Hajar al-Asal areas of River Nile state, close to the border with Khartoum state, on 13 October 2024.923 ACLED reported on 14 October 2024 that the SAF had regained control of these areas.924
Reports indicated a presence of the SAF-supporting925 Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) forces in River Nile state’s Shendi city.926
SAF-supporting Popular Resistance Forces, composed of civilians acting in self-defence, were reportedly present in most areas under SAF control, including Northern and River Nile states.927
In October 2024, the Africa Defense Forum (ADF) reported that many of the SAF’s newly recruited fighters were from River Nile State928 and the UN Human Rights Council noted that additional SAF training camps had allegedly been set up in River Nile state ‘with the participation of girls under 18’.929
- 913
The reference period for the North is between 15 April 2023 and 30 November 2024.
- 914
PolGeoNow, Sudan Control Map & Timeline: Former Rebels Join Fight - June 2023, 11 June 2024, url; UNSG, Children and armed conflict in the Sudan, S/2024/443, 7 June 2024, url, para. 8; Sudan War Monitor and OSINT Sudan, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 31 May 2024, url; SWP, Power Relations in Sudan after the Fall of Bashir, 10 May 2024, url, p. 27
- 915
SWP, Sudan’s Transition to War and the Limits of the UN’s Good Offices, October 2024, url, p. 25
- 916
Al Jazeera, Dozens killed in Sudan as army, rival forces fight for power, 15 April 2023, url
- 917
Radio Dabanga, Deadly violence in Sudan capital as army and RSF militia tensions explode, 15 April 2023, url
- 918
Al Jazeera, Dozens killed in Sudan as army, rival forces fight for power, 15 April 2023, url
- 919
MEMRI, One Thirst For Power In Sudan, As Two Armed Factions Maneuver, 14 April 2023, url
- 920
Sudan War Monitor, Map: Areas of Control in Central Sudan, 29 December 2023, url
- 921
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 11, 12 March 2024, url, p. 6
- 922
PolGeoNow, Sudan Control Map & Timeline: Former Rebels Join Fight - June 2023, 11 June 2024, url
- 923
Sudan Times, الدعم السريع تتوغل في ولاية نهر النيل ومقتل شخصين [Rapid Support Forces enter River Nile state, killing two people], 15 October 2024, url
- 924
ACLED, Turning the tide: The SAF’s strategic offensive in Khartoum and the RSF’s setbacks, 14 October 2024, url
- 925
Ayin Network et al., Sudan Conflict Monitor # 13, 23 May 2024, url, p. 3; ACLED, One Year of War in Sudan, 14 April 2024, url
- 926
PolGeoNow, Sudan Control Map & Timeline: Former Rebels Join Fight - June 2023, 11 June 2024, url
- 927
BBC, المقاومة الشعبية في السودان بين الدفاع عن النفس والانزلاق نحو حرب أهلية [Popular resistance in Sudan between self-defence and sliding into civil war], 3 January 2024, url
- 928
ADF, In Sudan, RSF Invokes Tradition to Force Children Onto Battlefield, 8 October 2024, url
- 929
UN Human Rights Council, Findings of the investigations conducted by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan into violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and related crimes, committed in the Sudan in the context of the conflict that erupted in mid-April 2023, A/HRC/57/CRP.6, 23 October 2024, url, para. 224