Less than a week after seizing control of the 21st Division in Central Darfur State and the 16th Division in Nyala, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) declared that they had taken command of the Sudanese Army’s 15th Division, indicating complete control over West Darfur and its capital.

The RSF declared that “the remnants and coup plotters in Western Darfur have been defeated” and that it has “liberated the 15th Infantry Division of El-Geneina.”

On October 29, the Forces took control of the headquarters of the 16th Division, one of the largest military bastions of the Sudanese army after Khartoum.

Two days later, they captured the “21st Division, its commander, 50 senior officers, and hundreds of soldiers.

The Support Forces did not reveal how they seized the 16th and 15th Divisions. It is likely that the forces there have withdrawn from the units.

RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo referred to the withdrawal earlier in his speech. But the army did not comment on the successive fall of its headquarters in Darfur.

However, the official spokesman for the Sudanese army, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, had downplayed on Wednesday the Rapid Support announcement of control of the army’s garrisons and divisions in Darfur.

Abdullah stressed that the armed forces “continue with strength and determination to carry out their sacred professional duty.”