Fighting was also reported in el-Fasher after the RSF issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the army to leave its last stronghold in the country.
The Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) are engaged in fighting near the al-Jili oil refinery, north of the capital Khartoum.
Sudan’s army said it had reached the vicinity of a strategically important refinery on Wednesday, following a multiple offensive north of Khartoumwith reports of direct clashes with the RSF.
Witnesses reported plumes of smoke covering the skies over large areas of Khartoum, and Sudanese activists circulated footage on social media showing the Sudanese army taking control of the entrance to the city.
“In the past few days, the army has launched a serious offensive, closing in on the refinery,” said Al Jazeera reporter Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum.
“Obviously, the military is trying to regain control, trying to take as much territory as possible…but they haven’t taken control of the refinery yet.”
Fighting was also recorded in el-Fasherwith tensions escalating earlier this week after the RSF issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Sudanese army to leave the city. After the ultimatum expired, the army carried out airstrikes on RSF positions, according to a military source who spoke to Al Jazeera.
The source also reported clashes around the Zarqa building complex in the north of Khartoum, with heavy weapons being used by both sides.
South Sudan overflow
Sudan descended into conflict in April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagal erupted in a conflict that displaced some 12 million people.
The war is still raging, and the RSF and the Sudanese army are accusing each other war crimesincluding the targeting of civilians and indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday that more than a million people have fled Sudan’s war into neighboring South Sudan. Most of the one million people crossing the border are South Sudanese nationals who previously fled civil war in the world’s newest country, it added.
In a separate development, South Sudanese authorities have suspended access to social media platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, for at least 30 days after videos of alleged killings of South Sudanese nationals in Sudan’s Gezira state sparked unrest.
At least 16 Sudanese nationals were killed last week when riots broke out across South Sudan, including the capital Juba, in retaliation for the alleged involvement of the Sudanese army and allied groups in the Gezira killings.
Napoleon Adok, head of the National Communications Agency, wrote to internet service providers on Wednesday ordering them to cut services by midnight, saying the upheaval in Sudan had “exposed the population of South Sudan to unprecedented levels of extreme violence”.
