Air strikes and gun battles have rocked Sudan’s capital on Saturday as the fighting continues between the rival generals.
The battle for power between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed more than 2,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water, and those who remain in the city have had no electricity at all since Thursday, with entire families sheltering in place, running low on vital supplies in the baking summer heat.
The deadliest violence has raged in Darfur, a vast western region on the border with Chad where the UN has warned of possible crimes against humanity and said the conflict has taken an “ethnic dimension”.
Residents caught in straight fire in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state.
The UN on Saturday urged “immediate action” to stop killings of people fleeing El Geneina, the West Darfur state capital, by Arab militias aided by the paramilitaries. The Geneva-based UN rights office said witnesses had given “corroborating accounts” of militias targeting men from the non-Arab Masalit people.
Two-thirds of health facilities in the main battlegrounds remain out of service, according to the Sudanese doctors’ union. The few hospitals still operating are extremely low on medical supplies and struggling to obtain fuel to power generators.
The UN says a record 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — are in need of aid and protection.
“Both sides seek to use the humanitarian talks for tactical advantage… with the military demanding that the RSF vacate residential areas and the RSF demanding that the army cease its aerial barrages,” ICG (International Crisis Group), a think tank, said this week in a report.
The United States, which along with Saudi Arabia sought to mediate between the warring sides and ensure humanitarian aid can reach those in need, said Thursday it had put its efforts on hold.
