Battles raged in the streets of Khartoum for a fifth day Wednesday after the country's two warring factions failed to honor a cease-fire. Loud explosions and gunfire were heard in the Sudanese capital, and witnesses reported heavy fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the center of the city.
According to media reports, thousands of Khartoum residents have begun fleeing the city after taking refuge in homes for several days to escape the fighting. Electricity and water supplies have been cut off in most parts of the capital since Saturday, and the fighting in Khartoum has forced people to stay in the city.
Offices, schools and gas stations are shut. Stores, markets, and banks are mostly closed, leaving people without access to money or essential goods. The clashes prevent people from accessing food, water, fuel, and medical care for their families.
The ongoing heavy fighting in Sudan is having a devastating impact on Sudanese civilians. According to the United Nations, a humanitarian pause is urgently needed to allow wounded and sick civilians to reach hospitals.
Sudanese hopes for a respite were dashed when the proposed 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire collapsed at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) Tuesday, just minutes after it was scheduled to begin. Both the army and the RSF had agreed to the ceasefire after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese military, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Civilians are bearing the brunt of the fighting, which is spreading across Sudan. Hundreds of civilians have now been killed and thousands wounded as heavy fighting continues in residential areas and near hospitals in the capital Khartoum and other cities. Many people are in urgent need of medical assistance.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 16 hospitals across the country have had to close due to the violence and attacks on hospitals. Nine of them are located in Khartoum. 16 hospitals in Khartoum and other states, including Darfur, are nearly non-functional due to staff overload and lack of supplies.
At least three aid workers are among the dead, and many aid offices have been looted, forcing vital humanitarian work to cease. Violence has spread throughout the country, with reports that the situation in the western region of Darfur is particularly alarming.
WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said Tuesday that according to Sudanese authorities, 270 people have been killed and more than 2,600 injured in the fighting. However, the actual death toll is uncertain because authorities have been unable to recover the bodies of those killed in the streets due to heavy fighting.
Fighting between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted Saturday after months of rising tensions over the country's political future and the RSF's planned integration into the national army.
The United Nations was forced to temporarily suspend much of its operations because of the clashes. Ten UN agencies and more than 80 nongovernmental organizations have run more than 250 programs in the country. The UN is currently unable to enter or leave Sudan.
According to reports, crossfire at Khartoum airport also damaged a United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) aircraft operated by the World Food Program, which could seriously affect the UN's ability to reach remote parts of Sudan where needs are greatest.
The World Food Program (WFP) has suspended operations in the country following the deaths of three of its staff. Three WFP employees were killed and two others injured in clashes between the SAF and RSF in Kebkabiya, North Darfur, on April 15, 2023.
A communique issued Tuesday by foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations as they met in Karuizawa, Japan condemned the fighting. The foreign ministers said the fighting “threatens the security and safety of Sudanese civilians and undermines efforts to restore Sudan’s democratic transition.”
Calls to end the fighting have come from around the world, including the African Union, the Arab League and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). IGAD said Kenyan President William Ruto, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and Djibouti’s President Omar Guelleh will go to Khartoum to broker an immediate cease-fire.
Sudan's two top generals, however, have yet to express a willingness to negotiate and each has demanded the other's surrender. Dagalo's forces emerged from the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan's Darfur region and have been accused of carrying out atrocities in the region.
The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Burhan, who also heads the transitional council, and General Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the transitional council. The two generals are former allies who orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
Tensions between the generals have been growing over disagreements about how the RSF should be integrated in the army and who should oversee that process. The restructuring of the military was part of an effort to restore the country to civilian rule and end the political crisis sparked by the 2021 military coup.
Several nations have begun plans to evacuate citizens from Sudan aboard planes amid the worsening situation in Khartoum, but have aborted their plans due to security reasons.
The European Union said its envoy to Sudan was assaulted in his residence on Monday but did not give further details. Blinken confirmed that a U.S. diplomatic convoy came under fire Monday, adding that initial reports indicated the attack was by forces linked to the Rapid Support Forces.
If the military confrontation continues, the security situation could further worsen in Sudan, which would have a huge impact on the already fragile humanitarian, political and economic situation in the country.
Due to the complex crisis in Sudan, a third of the country’s population were already in need of humanitarian assistance at the beginning of this year. The UN estimates that some 15.8 million people will require humanitarian aid across Sudan in 2023. Among them are 8.5 million children.
A quarter of Sudan's population - 11.7 million people - are severely food insecure. Over 3 million children under 5 currently suffer from acute malnutrition in the country, with an estimated 650,000 children under 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Sudan hosts about 1.2 million refugees, one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. Some 3.7 million Sudanese are internally displaced, mostly in the Darfur region that has experienced a volatile security situation since 2003. More than 800,000 Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries.