Half a million people are trapped in the Sudanese city of el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group tries to enforce its dominance over the Kordofan and Darfur regions during a civil war that has wrought devastation on the country for three years.The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned of an impending humanitarian “catastrophe” as el-Obeid is expected to be the next site for major ground clashes between the RSF and Sudanese military. Many countries have also raised the alarm about atrocities being carried out in the city.El-Obeid, which has been cut off by continuous drone attacks for months, is under threat after the mass atrocities carried out by the RSF in el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state.In October, the RSF took over el-Fasher, which it had besieged for 18 months. Last week, Amnesty International said the massacres in the western city amounted to ethnic cleansing while an independent UN mission stated in February that the assault bore the “hallmarks of genocide”.The RSF has been gathering force around the strategically important south-central city of el-Obeid for months, placing about 500,000 people, including 105,000 displaced people, in the middle with nowhere to flee.The war in Sudan began in April 2023 when the RSF attacked the capital, Khartoum. It quickly spread across the country.The war is considered to be one of the worst humanitarian conflicts in the world with tens of thousands killed. It’s also the world’s largest di …
