On 14 July, armed clashes erupted in the town of Ad-Dabba in Sudan’s Northern State. In an official statement, the Northern State Security Committee said the fighting had broken out between two groups involved in “drug trafficking at a palm farm west of Ad-Dabba market,” noting that the area is densely populated, “resulting in civilian casualties.”
The statement stopped short of identifying either group. Local sources, however, indicated that the Joint Force, the coalition of armed movements fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), was one of the parties involved in the confrontation.
The following day, amid the unfolding security chaos, the town’s power station came under attack from loitering drones. The local Security Committee blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but a military source who spoke to Atar on condition of anonymity did not rule out the possibility that one of the groups involved in the previous day’s violence had also played a role in targeting the facility. The close timing of the two incidents, the source argued, suggested an attempt to deepen the disorder and divert the attention of security and military forces.
Those involved were not ordinary criminal gangs, but semi-military formations with established headquarters and commanders inside the town.
Local source, speaking anonymously to Atar
Another source closely familiar with recent events in Ad-Dabba told Atar that further clashes were likely, and could be far more severe. Speaking anonymously for security reasons, the source said the authorities had sought to portray the violence as an isolated confrontation between two criminal groups through the Security Committee’s statement. In reality,however, the source argued, those involved were not ordinary criminal gangs that had briefly slipped past law enforcement, but semi-military formations with established headquarters and commanders inside the town.
In the aftermath of the fighting, Brigadier General of Police Yousif Gomaa Karkasawi, Director of Police for Ad-Dabba locality and Secretary of the local Security Committee, issued a series of emergency measures. The measures included an immediate ban on carrying firearms within the town, the confiscation of all weapons, an urgent investigation to identify those responsible for the clashes, restrictions preventing tea vendors from operating after 3pm., and the deployment of additional regular security forces to maintain order and monitor armed groups. Security forces subsequently launched a sweeping operation beginning at the site of the clashes and extending into neighbouring areas considered suspicious.
Ad-Dabba’s Boom Years
Ad-Dabba wasn’t a large consumer market. Its strength lay in its location at the junction of east-west trade routes.
Suleiman Yousif, trader from Omdurman's Libya Market
Between 2023 and 2025, Ad-Dabba emerged as one of Sudan’s most important commercial centres. As war rendered major markets inoperable and traders abandoned paved highways for rugged alternative routes, the town’s strategic position on a bend of the Nile placed it at the crossroads of historic trade corridors linking Darfur and Kordofan to the west with White Nile State to the south.
Within a remarkably short period, Ad-Dabba experienced an extraordinary economic boom. Foodstuffs, consumer goods, and essential supplies flowed into the town from across Sudan, supplemented by imports arriving through Egypt and Libya. It quickly became the principal wholesale market upon which traders from other states depended. Its growth accelerated as merchants relocated their businesses there. Markets expanded dramatically to include footwear, clothing, agricultural produce, and livestock. Overland transport also flourished, with freight trucks departing Ad-Dabba laden with goods destined for Darfur, Kordofan, and other regions despite the risks posed by the war.
As major highways through Kordofan and Al-Jazirah became inaccessible, livestock markets likewise shifted to Ad-Dabba, transforming it into a major collection and export centre. Trade in gum arabic and agricultural products also expanded, cementing the town’s reputation as northern Sudan’s most important commercial artery.
Mohamed Abdalla, a livestock trader who worked in Ad-Dabba’s market for two years, told Atar, “After livestock markets in Khartoum and Kordofan shut down because of the war, Ad-Dabba—despite the dangers along the roads—became the country’s most important livestock market. Animals were brought in from Kordofan and Darfur before being prepared for export.”
Suleiman Yousif, a trader from Omdurman’s Libya Market, described Ad-Dabba’s wartime rise as nothing short of miraculous, “No one imagined that virtually every market would move to Ad-Dabba,” he told Atar. “A town that had never been built to accommodate even half that level of commercial activity suddenly found itself overwhelmed. Within a very short time, shops had spread so extensively they nearly swallowed the entire town.”
He added that Ad-Dabba’s success was never about the size of its markets or the quality of its infrastructure. “It wasn’t a large consumer market,” he said. “Its strength lay in its location at the junction of east-west trade routes. It became a transit hub where goods arrived only to move immediately onward to other parts of Sudan and beyond.”
The Miracle Unravels
Ad-Dabba’s boom, however, proved short-lived. As the SAF recaptured Khartoum and Al-Jazirah, commercial activity gradually returned to its traditional centres. Trade volumes declined, freight traffic slowed, purchasing power weakened, and the town entered a period of economic stagnation.
Threats by the RSF’s deputy commander, AbdelRahim Dagalo, to advance into Northern State, coupled with waves of drone attacks that struck the town beginning in April 2025, prompted many traders to relocate their businesses elsewhere.
Livestock trader Mohamed Abdalla described the RSF’s decision to halt the movement of livestock out of Darfur as “the final blow” to Ad-Dabba’s market. “The market had already begun to weaken,” he said, “before virtually disappearing by the middle of last year, especially after livestock markets reopened in Khartoum and Al-Jazirah.”
Since the beginning of this year, commercial activity has contracted sharply. The town has been struck by dozens of drone attacks—the latest on 15 July—while increasingly becoming a centre for illicit trade in weapons, narcotics, and human trafficking.
One merchant still operating in Ad-Dabba told Atar that the deteriorating security situation had devastated business, “Many traders have left for safer areas,” he said anonymously. “Markets that were full of life just a year ago are now almost deserted. Commercial activity has largely been reduced to cafés and brokers arranging the smuggling of migrants into neighbouring countries.”
Community leaders in Ad-Dabba likewise told Atar that conditions had changed dramatically as commerce declined, military deployments expanded, and armed groups claiming affiliation with forces allied to the SAF established a visible presence.
One traditional leader, who requested anonymity, said that as the wartime markets disappeared, rents for homes and commercial properties—which had once soared—had fallen sharply.
A Hub for Drugs and Militarization
The enormous profits generated by the drug trade have blurred the boundaries between opposing sides in the war.
Local source familiar with the recent clashes
A local source closely familiar with the recent clashes revealed what he described as a far more troubling reality: the rapid expansion of drug trafficking and other illicit trade, operating openly despite the presence of civilian and military authorities unable—or unwilling—to stop it. The recent anti-drug awareness campaign organized by the locality’s Media Department, he noted, reflects the scale of the problem.
According to the source, Ad-Dabba has become a distribution hub for narcotics ranging from cannabis to synthetic drugs transported overland. Multiple actors are involved, including elements linked to the RSF itself. The enormous profits generated by the trade, he argued, have blurred the boundaries between opposing sides in the war.
Evidence gathered by Atar suggests that the town has also evolved into a centre for trafficking in weapons and looted goods. At the same time, repeated RSF drone attacks on water infrastructure and electricity generation facilities have compounded residents’ suffering. Businesses that had remained operational have increasingly abandoned the town, driven away by deteriorating security, repeated bombardments, rising unofficial levies, and shrinking commercial activity.
Meanwhile, the arrival of numerous military formations has flooded Ad-Dabba with armed men, further endangering civilians. “There used to be only a handful of checkpoints inside the town,” one resident told Atar, requesting anonymity. “As the war continued, more and more armed groups arrived. Suddenly, weapons were everywhere. Many violent incidents cannot officially be attributed to military forces, yet they were committed by armed men. As crime increased, people stopped moving around freely, and investors began leaving.”
Another resident described an unprecedented level of insecurity, “the sheer military presence has turned Ad-Dabba into something resembling a military garrison. It has become almost impossible to distinguish between regular soldiers and people wearing military uniforms for their own personal purposes.”
This deterioration has transformed Ad-Dabba from a vibrant commercial centre into a place defined by fear.
Ad-Dabba resident, speaking anonymously to Atar
He concluded, “This deterioration has transformed Ad-Dabba from a vibrant commercial centre into a place defined by fear. People now live in constant anxiety amid the overwhelming military presence, expecting the worst as the civilian authorities and security services struggle to restore order.”
Salih Al-Tayyib, who spent two years in Ad-Dabba before relocating to Omdurman’s Libya Market, offered a similar assessment. “Ad-Dabba had every opportunity to preserve the momentum it gained during the war,” he told Atar. “Instead, its rapid transformation into a military staging ground produced a state of lawlessness, driven by the proliferation of competing armed forces and the failure of the state’s Security Committee to assert control.”
