On April 14, 2024, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), engaged in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 15, 2023, seized control of Mellit, a town situated approximately 60 km from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. Mellit holds strategic significance as it sits at a pivotal junction linking El Fasher to Kufra in south-eastern Libya and Al-Dabbah in the SAF-held Northern State. This capture allows the RSF to exert de facto control over cross-border trade routes, particularly from Libya, crucial for smuggling resources like fuel and weapons vital for the conflict. In addition, the RSF’s control over toll gates they set at security checkpoints along the trade routes enables them to levy illegal fees on incoming trucks transporting essential supplies such as food and medicine, escalating commodity prices across Darfur, and barring select goods from rural areas. This chokehold on resources is exacerbating the siege on El Fasher, amplifying its vulnerability.
These developments carry weighty consequences, not only intensifying the struggle for control over El Fasher but also obstructing access to critical provisions like food and medicine across Darfur. As famine looms over the region, the viability of these supply routes becomes a lifeline for millions of lives at stake. The RSF will use its military dominance of the roads to generate new income streams for its war chest.
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