Witnesses told AFP that artillery fire, airstrikes, and gunfights shook the capital of Sudan on Saturday.
After more than two months of battle between opposing generals, relief efforts have come to a standstill while fighting continues.
Families were sheltering in place, running out of essential supplies in the sweltering summer heat, and houses in Khartoum rocked from the battle, according to locals.
Since fighting broke out in mid-April between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the UN estimates that over 1.5 million people have fled the capital.
Khartoum’s entire districts now lack flowing water, and those who are still in the city have been without electricity since Thursday, according to a number of locals who spoke to AFP.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, at than 2,000 people have died as a result of the power struggle between army head Abdel-Fattah Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Help blocked
According to the Sudanese doctors’ organization, two-thirds of the hospitals in the major battlegrounds are still inoperable. Medical supplies are in dire need of replenishment at the few hospitals that are still open, and it is difficult to get gasoline for generators.
More than half of Sudan’s population—a record 25 million people—need assistance and safety, according to the U.N.
According to the U.N., at least 2.8 million people have received help, although organizations report facing significant obstacles in their operations, such as difficulties obtaining safe passageways and obtaining visas for foreign humanitarians.
According to think tank the International Crisis Group (ICG), “the army is… reluctant to allow aid into the capital for fear that packages will end up in the hands of the RSF” as has happened in the past, “allowing the paramilitary to hold out longer.”
In an effort to ensure that those in need receive humanitarian relief, the United States and Saudi Arabia endeavored to mediate between the warring parties. However, the United States said on Thursday that it has suspended such efforts.
The RSF demanded that the army stop its aerial barrages, while the military demanded that the RSF leave residential areas, according to a report released this week by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Sanctuary for mercenaries
There is a greater chance of a protracted confrontation with regional implications because neither side seems inclined to give ground.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that approximately 150,000 individuals have crossed the border from Darfur into Chad.
Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo stated on Saturday that Chad, which has already taken in more than 680,000 refugees, needed enormous financial and technical support to deal with this “unprecedented migration crisis.”
The Janjaweed forces, which former dictator Omar al-Bashir unleashed in response to an uprising by ethnic minorities in Darfur in 2003 and which have since been accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, are the source of Dagalo’s RSF.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) cautioned that “a collapsed Sudan could create a haven for transnational militants… mercenaries and traffickers who could plague the country’s neighborhood for years to come.”
The 50-year-old Sudanese woman Maha Abdullah, who managed to travel to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, believes there is only one way to change the situation: “God’s intervention is necessary.”
