Khartoum: Sudan’s devastating war entered a third month on Thursday, as the killing of a governor marked a new escalation in the western region Darfur,
Since 15 April, the regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagallo have been locked in a war that has destroyed entire neighborhoods of the capital Khartoum .
The fighting quickly spread to the provinces, especially Darfur, and killed at least 1,800 people, according to the armed conflict location. event data projectLast month’s latest figures.
Burhan accused the RSF of killing Khamis Abdullah Abkar, the governor of West Darfur state, in a “treacherous attack” on Wednesday.
Abkar was captured and later executed after making comments critical of the paramilitary forces in a telephone interview with a Saudi TV channel.
The Darfur Lawyers Association condemned his “killing” as an act of “barbarism, brutality and brutality”.
Nationwide, Sudan’s war has driven some 2.2 million people from their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Of these, more than 528,000 have taken refuge in neighboring countries, the UN agency said.
“In our worst expectations, we have never seen this war drag on for so long,” said Mohammed al-Hassan Othman, who fled his home in Khartoum.
“Everything has changed in our lives,” he told AFP. “We don’t know whether we will return home or need to start a new life.”
“We are left with nothing,” said Ahmed Taha, a Khartoum resident. “The whole country is completely devastated.
“Everywhere you look, you see where bombs have gone off and bullets have fired. Every inch of Sudan is a disaster zone.”
US and Saudi mediation efforts are at an impasse after several ceasefires failed in the face of open violations by both sides.
A record 25 million people — more than half the population — are in need of aid, according to the UN, which says it has received only a fraction of the money it needs.
Saudi Arabia has announced an international pledging conference for next week.
Anja Volz of the aid group Doctors Without Borders said many of the displaced had lost “all their belongings and livelihoods” as well as their loved ones.
The group, which runs a mobile clinic for the displaced in Madani, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Khartoum, noted an “alarming increase” in people fleeing the capital.
Despite the dangers and obstacles, the latest UN figures say aid has now reached 1.8 million people, still only a fraction of those in need.
Soha Abdulrahman, another Khartoum resident, said, “We have been suffering and suffering the horrors of this war for two months.”
The conflict’s other main battleground, Darfur, was already scarred by two decades of war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than two million.
The army said on Wednesday that the “abduction and murder” of Abkar, the governor of West Darfur, was part of the RSF’s “barbaric crimes”.
Sudan analyst Kholud Khair said the “heinous killing” was meant to “silence his highlighting of genocide in Darfur”.
Khair, founder of the Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory, said in a tweet that it was unclear “what the red lines are now”, urging international condemnation “as well as action to protect people in Darfur and elsewhere”.
Homes and markets have been burned, hospitals and aid facilities looted and more than 149,000 people have been deported to neighboring Chad.
One of Sudan’s leading civilian groups, the Ummah party, said El Jinina, the capital of West Darfur state, had been turned into a “disaster zone”, and urged international organizations to provide aid.
The Darfur Lawyers Association described the “genocide and ethnic cleansing” in El Djenina as being carried out by “cross-border militias supported by the RSF” that “serve an agenda that has nothing to do with the interests of Darfur or Sudan”.
Daglo’s RSF has its origins in the Janjaweed militia, which was unleashed by former strongman Omar al-Bashir on ethnic minorities in the region in 2003, accusing it of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
An army official said on Wednesday that paramilitary forces have started using drones, which an RSF source said they had obtained “from commandeered military centres”.
Both sources spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
According to a military analyst in the region who requested anonymity for his safety, the RSF may have obtained the drones from the Yarmouk arms manufacturing and weapons depot complex, which comes just days after the collapse of US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire talks. They went.
Since 15 April, the regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagallo have been locked in a war that has destroyed entire neighborhoods of the capital Khartoum .
The fighting quickly spread to the provinces, especially Darfur, and killed at least 1,800 people, according to the armed conflict location. event data projectLast month’s latest figures.
Burhan accused the RSF of killing Khamis Abdullah Abkar, the governor of West Darfur state, in a “treacherous attack” on Wednesday.
Abkar was captured and later executed after making comments critical of the paramilitary forces in a telephone interview with a Saudi TV channel.
The Darfur Lawyers Association condemned his “killing” as an act of “barbarism, brutality and brutality”.
Nationwide, Sudan’s war has driven some 2.2 million people from their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Of these, more than 528,000 have taken refuge in neighboring countries, the UN agency said.
“In our worst expectations, we have never seen this war drag on for so long,” said Mohammed al-Hassan Othman, who fled his home in Khartoum.
“Everything has changed in our lives,” he told AFP. “We don’t know whether we will return home or need to start a new life.”
“We are left with nothing,” said Ahmed Taha, a Khartoum resident. “The whole country is completely devastated.
“Everywhere you look, you see where bombs have gone off and bullets have fired. Every inch of Sudan is a disaster zone.”
US and Saudi mediation efforts are at an impasse after several ceasefires failed in the face of open violations by both sides.
A record 25 million people — more than half the population — are in need of aid, according to the UN, which says it has received only a fraction of the money it needs.
Saudi Arabia has announced an international pledging conference for next week.
Anja Volz of the aid group Doctors Without Borders said many of the displaced had lost “all their belongings and livelihoods” as well as their loved ones.
The group, which runs a mobile clinic for the displaced in Madani, 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Khartoum, noted an “alarming increase” in people fleeing the capital.
Despite the dangers and obstacles, the latest UN figures say aid has now reached 1.8 million people, still only a fraction of those in need.
Soha Abdulrahman, another Khartoum resident, said, “We have been suffering and suffering the horrors of this war for two months.”
The conflict’s other main battleground, Darfur, was already scarred by two decades of war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than two million.
The army said on Wednesday that the “abduction and murder” of Abkar, the governor of West Darfur, was part of the RSF’s “barbaric crimes”.
Sudan analyst Kholud Khair said the “heinous killing” was meant to “silence his highlighting of genocide in Darfur”.
Khair, founder of the Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory, said in a tweet that it was unclear “what the red lines are now”, urging international condemnation “as well as action to protect people in Darfur and elsewhere”.
Homes and markets have been burned, hospitals and aid facilities looted and more than 149,000 people have been deported to neighboring Chad.
One of Sudan’s leading civilian groups, the Ummah party, said El Jinina, the capital of West Darfur state, had been turned into a “disaster zone”, and urged international organizations to provide aid.
The Darfur Lawyers Association described the “genocide and ethnic cleansing” in El Djenina as being carried out by “cross-border militias supported by the RSF” that “serve an agenda that has nothing to do with the interests of Darfur or Sudan”.
Daglo’s RSF has its origins in the Janjaweed militia, which was unleashed by former strongman Omar al-Bashir on ethnic minorities in the region in 2003, accusing it of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
An army official said on Wednesday that paramilitary forces have started using drones, which an RSF source said they had obtained “from commandeered military centres”.
Both sources spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
According to a military analyst in the region who requested anonymity for his safety, the RSF may have obtained the drones from the Yarmouk arms manufacturing and weapons depot complex, which comes just days after the collapse of US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire talks. They went.