Sudan: Thousands flee capital & other cities as clashes rage despite truce

Khartoum (Sudan): With fighting between the army and paramilitaries escalated in spite of an internationally brokered truce that was supposed to be in effect, thousands of residents reportedly fled Sudan’s capital on Wednesday. Residents of multiple neighbourhoods of Khartoum told The Associated Press they could see hundreds, including women and children, carrying luggage, some leaving by foot, others crowding into vehicles. Thousands of people took matters into their own hands and, according to witnesses, began leaving their homes in Khartoum, some in cars and others on foot, including women and children. They said the streets were littered with dead bodies, the stench of which filled the air. “Khartoum has become a ghost city,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate, who is still in the capital. The generals’ fight for power has caught millions of Sudanese in the crossfire, as their forces have battled it out since Saturday with heavy machine guns, artillery and airstrikes in residential neighbourhoods of Khartoum, its neighbouring city Omdurman and other major towns of the country. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past five days, the U.N. health agency said, but the toll is likely higher since many bodies have been left in the streets, unreachable because of clashes. A 24-hour cease-fire was to have been in effect from sundown Tuesday to sundown Wednesday. It was the most concrete attempt yet to bring a pause that it was hoped could be expanded into a longer truce. It came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke separately by phone with the two rivals — the leader of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. Egypt, which backs the Sudanese military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have close ties to the RSF, have also been calling on all sides to stand down. But fighting continued after the intended start of the truce and through the night. Each side blamed the other for the failure. Fierce clashes between the army and RSF were reported Wednesday morning around the military’s headquarters in central Khartoum and the nearby airport, as well as around the state television building across the river in Omdurman. Bombs and artillery could be heard around the city. A high-rise in the city centre was on fire with burning debris falling from its top floors, according to footage by the Al Arabiya news network. “The battles intensified in the morning after sporadic gunfire over the night,” said Tahani Abass, a prominent rights advocate who lives close to the military headquarters. “Bombing and explosions are shaking our houses.” Mahasen Ali, a tea vendor, said many in her south Khartoum neighbourhood have left their homes to take refuge in open areas, hoping to be safe from shelling hitting buildings. Others fled the city to stay with relatives elsewhere, she said. Armed men were roaming the streets, storming shops and houses. “They take whatever they can, and if you resist, they kill you,” she said. Foreigners stuck The fighting has killed at least 185 people and injured more than 1,800, according to the United Nations. But the real figure is thought to be far higher with many wounded unable to reach hospitals, which are themselves being shelled, according to the official doctors’ union. Governments have started planning to evacuate thousands of foreigners stuck in the country, among them many UN staff. Japan said its defence ministry had begun the “necessary preparations” to evacuate around 60 of its nationals from Sudan, including embassy staff. The US embassy in Khartoum said it started gathering citizens’ personal details while urging them to remain indoors and stay away from windows. “Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, there are no plans for (a) US government-coordinated evacuation,” it tweeted. The violence has also seen a US diplomatic convoy fired upon, the European Union’s ambassador attacked at home and a Belgian humanitarian official with the EU hospitalised after reportedly being shot. On Tuesday, United Nations emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths said the UN had received “reports of attacks and sexual violence against aid workers”. Aid groups have reported looting of medical and other supplies. After the collapse of the truce, the army accused the “rebel militia” of failing to commit to it and of continuing “skirmishes around the army headquarters and the airport”. The RSF pointed the finger at the army for “committing violations” and breaching the ceasefire by launching “sporadic attacks” on its forces and bases around the capital. International actors ‘bide time’ The latest violence, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, came after more than 120 civilians had already been killed in a crackdown on regular pro-democracy demonstrations over the past 18 months. Both generals have positioned themselves as saviours of Sudan and guardians of democracy – in a country which has known only brief democratic interludes. Since the start of the fighting, each side has claimed the upper hand and that they have taken control of key sites or made advances on the other’s bases across Sudan. None of the claims could be independently verified. “Neither side seems to be winning at the moment, and given the intensity of the violence, things could get even worse before the two generals come to the negotiating table,” said Clement Deshayes, a Sudan specialist at Paris’s Sorbonne University. But that would necessitate “regional allies exerting pressure, and right now their declarations aren’t heading in that direction – with international actors seemingly biding their time until the situation is clearer”. Saturday’s outbreak of violence is the culmination of deep-seated divisions between the army and the RSF, which was created in 2013 by longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Burhan and Daglo toppled Bashir together in April 2019 following mass protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule. They have since been allies with their relationship interspersed with brief periods of tension. In October 2021, the pair led a military coup against the civilian government, which was installed following Bashir’s ouster, derailing an internationally backed transition. Burhan, a career soldier from northern Sudan who rose through the ranks under Bashir, has maintained his coup was “necessary” to include more factions in politics. But Daglo, also known as Hemeti, has since called the coup a “mistake” that failed to bring about change and invigorated Bashir’s remnants. With inputs from agencies. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.