Fears of new massacre in Sudan’s el-Obeid: What do we know?

As RSF troops encircle the strategic Sudanese city, half a million trapped civilians face mass atrocities.The UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to hold an urgent debate on Friday about the crisis in el-Obeid, the capital of Sudan’s North Kordofan state. International groups fear it is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) tighten their siege on the city.With attack drones raining down on civilian areas and military reinforcements massing outside the city, there are mounting concerns of more mass killings by RSF forces as seen in el-Fasher.The strategic importance of el-ObeidThe city is strategically important in Sudan’s grinding war, which has pitted government forces against the renegade RSF militia force.It is the primary gateway linking Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, 550km (340 miles) to the northeast with the vast Darfur region.It is also a major military stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) 5th Infantry Division, known as Al-Hagana or “Camel Corps”, and also hosts an airbase, a major oil pipeline and a large gum arabic market.About 500,000 residents lived in the city, which has become a refuge for nearly 100,000 displaced people fleeing violence in Darfur and other regions.Kholood Khair, a researcher in Sudanese affairs, said that the battle for el-Obeid is about “power, land and money”. The siege has seen the price of food surge by up to 300 percent, with much of the population unable to afford the rising costs or to reach a safe destination.Civilian infrastructure under fireThe RSF has escalated its attacks on civilian infrastructure. An open-source investigation revealed that at least 16 civilian and service targets have been damaged, including hospitals, schools, power stations and fuel depots. In one harrowing incident, eight students at the “Jeel Al-Raid” school were injured when drone shrapnel pierced their classrooms while they were studying.