by ReutersShelling and airstrikes rocked parts of Sudan’s capital on Sunday, but there were no signs the warring military factions were ready to back down in a month-long conflict that has left hundreds dead despite ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. have been killed.
Khartoum and the cities of Bahri and Omdurman around the two branches of the Nile have been the main theater of conflict along western Darfur province since the army and the Rapid Support Force paramilitary began fighting on April 15.
According to a Reuters reporter and eyewitnesses, there was shelling in Bahri and airstrikes on Omdurman in the early hours of Sunday. Salma Yassin, a teacher in Omdurman, said, “In Saliha we had heavy airstrikes that shook the doors of the houses.”
A resident near Khartoum airport, which has been closed since the fighting began, said intermittent fighting continued throughout the day.
At least 676 people have been killed and 5,576 injured in the unrest, the United Nations said on Sunday, although with reports of many more missing and bodies unaccounted for, the real toll is expected to be much higher. Some 200,000 have fled to neighboring countries and more than 700,000 have been displaced inside Sudan, creating a humanitarian crisis that threatens to attract outside powers and destabilize the region.
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The conflict has also engulfed the economy. On Sunday, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan issued a decree freezing the bank accounts of the RSF and affiliated firms and replaced the governor of the central bank.
Those left in Khartoum are struggling to survive as health services have been overwhelmed, electricity and water supplies have been cut, and food stocks have dwindled.
On Saturday night, RSF gunmen demanding money attacked a church in Omdurman, injuring five people, including a priest, a Coptic Christian activist said. The army also blamed the RSF for the attack, while the RSF said in a statement that an “extremist” group affiliated with the army was responsible.
The head of a government unit to combat sexual violence said it had received five reports of rape linked to the conflict, while the Sudanese campaign group Civilian Front to Stop the War said it had registered other unverified reports of sexual violence.
unrest in Darfur
Fighting reportedly intensified in West Darfur’s capital, Jinina. The Darfur Bar Association said in a statement that the number of people killed on Friday and Saturday exceeded 100, including the imam of the city’s old mosque.
Local rights groups blamed attacks by armed groups on motorbikes and the RSF for the killings, looting and arson in Djenné, where violence killed hundreds last month. RSF has denied responsibility for the unrest.
Army chief Burhan and RSF leader Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, shared power following a 2021 coup, which itself followed a 2019 uprising that ousted veteran Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir. Had done it.
But they fell out over the terms and timing of a planned transition to civilian rule and neither man showed he was prepared to make concessions, with the army controlling the air power and the RSF digging deep into the city’s districts.
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Ceasefire deals have been repeatedly broken but the United States and Saudi Arabia are mediating talks in Jeddah with the aim of achieving a permanent ceasefire.
“You don’t know how long this war will continue… Home has become unsafe and we don’t have enough money to go out of Khartoum. Why are we paying the price of Burhan and Hemedti’s war?” Teacher Yasin said.
On Thursday the sides agreed to a “declaration of principles” to protect civilians and secure humanitarian access, but with Sunday’s discussions due to address the monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for that deal, the fighting is far from over. .
Looting and destruction from the fighting has also affected aid supplies. In the past few days, a factory providing 60% of the food used by the United Nations to treat children with severe acute malnutrition in Sudan was burned.
Children’s agency UNICEF said the fire destroyed factory machinery and supplies needed to treat some 14,500 children.
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