El‑Obeid, Sudan faces looming RSF offensive and worsening food crisis

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are gathering for a possible major assault on El‑Obeid, the strategic city of about half a million people in Sudan's North Kordofan. Drone strikes have hit the city’s power plant, fuel depots and water infrastructure, plunging neighborhoods into darkness and forcing residents to rely on makeshift water trucks and wells. Civilians report soaring prices for water and food, with shortages threatening daily survival.

The United Nations World Food Programme warned that intensified fighting could trigger mass displacement of hundreds of thousands and deepen the already severe food insecurity. The agency is currently providing food and cash assistance to more than 100,000 vulnerable people and has stocked reserves to aid up to 250,000 if an attack forces them to flee. It urgently seeks $646 million to sustain operations over the next six months. International observers fear El‑Obeid could suffer a siege similar to El‑Fasher, where thousands perished after prolonged combat.

Humanitarian access remains precarious as both the Sudanese army and RSF accuse each other of using civilians as human shields. The city’s market for gum arabic, an air‑base, an infantry division and a strategic oil pipeline underscore its military and economic importance, making control of El‑Obeid a decisive objective in the wider Sudanese conflict.