Hundreds of people have been killed in Sudan recently, including dozens of children, according to civilian witnesses, medical workers and the United Nations.
The war between the Sudanese army and paramilitary swift supporters unleashed waves of devastation throughout Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people, millions fleeing homes, starving part of the vast country I was forced to push deeper into it.
“Where you see, death is approaching,” Mustafa Ahmed, a painter who lives in Omdurman from the capital, across the Nile, said in a telephone interview.
He and his family were very concerned about the continued fire and were devising ways to leave town, he said. “I'm leaving and I'm working so hard to prevent my family from dying,” he said.
As war parties strive to solidify territorial claims, reclaim new ones and secure strategic military and civilian sites in the capital and adjacent cities, the western Darfur region, and several other states. , a catastrophic war is escalating.
The conflict is characterized by gross atrocities and ethnically motivated murders, prompting investigations from the International Criminal Court and accusations of genocide from the United States.
In recent weeks, the Army has blocked the attacks to capture a significant portion of the capital. This was lost when the war began in April 2023. The conflict has gradually intensified after the rainy season ended since the second half of last year. Escalating deaths, injuries and attacks on civilians have led activists to ask the United Nations to deploy peacekeeping missions with the country.
In January, the Army captured a strategic oil refinery north of Khartoum and defeated the siege at its main headquarters in central Khartoum.
Army chief General Abdel Fatta al-Burhan visited the facility a few days later and promised to remove paratroops from “every corner of Sudan.”
But even as Army officers celebrated the victory, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned fighter jets and militias and formed an alliance with at least 18 people being executed immediately in the newly released areas.
The battle is also escalating in Omdurman, Sudan's second largest city, home to around 2.4 million people. Sudan's health ministry said at least 54 people were killed and 158 were injured when the military fired a busy market on Saturday.
Just a few days later, the ministry said on Tuesday that six people were killed and 38 were injured when mortar shells were attacked at Maine Hospital, where the wounded people were already treated.
This week there was a fierce clash with South Kordofan, who shares the border with South Sudan, and the Blue Nile countries, where millions are already facing humanitarian crises.
At least 80 people have been killed in the city of Kaduguri in Southern Kordofan, the UN said this week.
Asim Ahmed Musa, who lives in the city, said many people do not have access to the right foods and medicines. Workers were unable to receive their salary, he said, and many families had limited cash, especially after Sudan introduced a new bank memo last month.
The clashes continue through the city, and he said the gunfire and gunfire drums forced many people to corner. “The citizens now live in a state of panic,” he said. “People are scary.”
The western part of Darfur has also been a site of intense clashes recently, a painful reprise of the region that experienced genocide over 20 years ago.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the paramilitary forces, or RSF, and their allies, have stepped up attacks in the region and strengthened control of major cities.
They also surrounded El Fascher, the capital of North Darfur, where they were in conflict with the Army and its allies. According to World Health Organization Head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, El Fasher's attack on the sole functional hospital in late January killed 70 people and injured 19 people.
The fight across the region, according to the United Nations, is driving hundreds of families out and urge some of them to flee across the border to Chad.
The latest conflicts are not spared children. UNICEF said this week that at least 40 children were killed in just three days this month.
“As the conflict continues, violence must end soon, for the sake of the children's lives and futures, for the sake of their balance and for them,” Sudan's UNICEF representative Ann Marie Suwai said in a statement.
For now, the fighters claim they can ultimately counteract the others.
Despite the losses in the capital, paramilitary leader Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan gave a recorded video speech last week trying to restore sagging morale among his troops, fresh He promised to seize the territory.
“We have to think about what we're going to do,” he said. “I'm looking forward to it, not behind.”
