Sudan’s army and allied fighters captured the town of Sodari in North Kordofan on Friday, Sept. 25, seizing another administrative center from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as an offensive launched Sept. 17 pushes west toward RSF-held Darfur, according to Sudans Post.
The army said its troops and the Joint Force, a coalition of former Darfur rebel movements, “liberated” Sodari after fierce battles that inflicted heavy losses on the RSF, but it gave no casualty figures. Videos geolocated by Sudans Post showed soldiers and allied fighters at several points inside the town, including near a fuel station and the local health insurance office.
Why Sodari and North Kordofan Matter
North Kordofan links army-held central Sudan with the western regions where the RSF controls much of the territory, and Sodari locality borders North Darfur and West Kordofan. The capture extends a westward advance that began in July, when the army took Bara, Jabrat al-Sheikh and other settlements and reopened the highway between El Obeid and the Khartoum region.
The RSF still holds parts of Sodari locality, including Umm Badr and Hamrat al-Sheikh to the northwest, as well as Abu Qa’ud and Umm Sumaima west of El Obeid and Kazgil to the south—keeping the army from claiming the whole state. Days before the battle, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, addressed a column heading to Kordofan, declaring that “now it is the gun that speaks.” It is unclear whether those fighters reached Sodari in time.
Unverified Reports of Prisoner Killings
Multiple sources told Sudans Post that about 17 prisoners of war, some of whom had surrendered or were already wounded, were killed when the army and its allies entered the town. The army’s statement did not address the treatment of prisoners, and the allegation has not been independently confirmed. Hemedti had told his own fighters not to kill captives taken alive.
RSF Defections and Pressure on Chad
The RSF also lost fighters to defection on Friday. Sudan’s state news agency SUNA said a force led by Al-Tayeb Mohammed Ahmed, known as Al-Tayeb Al-Wahido, switched sides and joined the army, citing “tragedies” within RSF ranks, Anadolu Agency reported. It is the latest in a string of defections since mid-August.
The war’s spillover is growing. Chad condemned recent air strikes on its eastern Ennedi region that it linked to the Sudan conflict and warned it would take “all necessary measures” if they recur, The Sudan Times reported, while a U.N. refugee official said nearly 400 Sudanese are now crossing into Chad each day. The fighting comes as army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan faces diplomatic isolation, including the U.S. decision to withhold his U.N. visa over truce talks, and as conflict flares elsewhere in the region, such as the renewed fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray.