El Obeid Is a Major City Linking the Sudanese Capital Khartoum to the Western Darfur Region
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“BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF EL OBEID”
covered 2026-07-10 ▶ Be on the air with Al Jazeera EnglishWatch the moment
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El Obeid has been a key Saharan trade hub since the 19th century!
Capital of North Kordofan, El Obeid was a major caravan route stop & a 19th-century trade center. Its fall would sever Khartoum's supply lines to Darfur. Read more at Wikipedia
El Obeid sits in Sudan's Sahel, averaging under 300mm of rain yearly.
The semi-arid city is a key grain trading hub for Sudan. The SAF-RSF conflict has disrupted harvests in North Kordofan, deepening a food crisis in a region already ravaged by drought and desertification.
Sudan's RSF grew from the Janjaweed, tied to the Darfur genocide
The Rapid Support Forces, now fighting Sudan's army for control of Khartoum, evolved from the Janjaweed militias blamed for the 2003 Darfur genocide, which killed an estimated 300,000 people.
