Desperate civilians flee Sudan’s capital after ceasefire fails

Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped in their homes for days by fighting in the capital Khartoum fled on Wednesday, as the military and rival paramilitaries sought a 24-hour ceasefire after a ceasefire failed the previous day.

The new truce effort comes amid growing alarm that millions of Sudanese are on the brink of disaster since five days of fighting between the country’s two most powerful generals.

Fighting grew less intense in the first hours after the ceasefire took effect at 6pm local time, with sporadic clashes continuing in the city centre, said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Union.

But he said that no party has given assurances to his group to facilitate the movement of health workers and ambulances.

Desperate residents of the capital have run out of food and other supplies as they hide in their homes from gunfire, bombardment and airstrikes on the streets outside.

Hospitals have been damaged and forced to close or have been overwhelmed by injuries, with staff exhausted and medical supplies running low.

Increasingly, armed fighters have been looting shops and robbing anyone who dares to come out.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past five days, the UN health agency said, but the number is higher because many bodies are left uncollected on the streets.

After a failed ceasefire attempt on Tuesday evening, hundreds of people gave up trying to maintain calm and fled their homes on Wednesday, even as explosions and gunfire rocked Khartoum and the city of Omdurman.

Residents in several neighborhoods told The Associated Press that they could see men, women and children leaving with suitcases, some walking, and others getting into vehicles.

Sporadic shooting, bursts

On Wednesday evening, the army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), separately announced that a new 24-hour ceasefire had begun.

The prospect of a ceasefire is uncertain, as residents continue to hear gunshots and sporadic explosions.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre urged both sides to maintain the ceasefire, “avoid violence and return to negotiations.”

He said the army and the RSF were “responsible for ensuring the protection of civilians and non-combatants.”

So far, army chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and RSF commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – former allies against Sudan’s pro-democracy movement – appear determined to crush each other in the struggle for power.

The outbreak of violence among its forces, which began on Saturday, has challenged international efforts to calm it down.

The battle near the military headquarters

Throughout Wednesday, both sides fought around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum, which the RSF has tried repeatedly to capture, and the nearby airport.

Residents said the military attacked RSF positions with airstrikes.

The army’s monopoly on air power has been seen to give it an edge in the battles in Khartoum and Omdurman, enabling it to capture several RSF bases in the past few days.

But tens of thousands of fighters from paramilitary forces are deployed in the environment.

Residents say gunmen, mostly in RSF uniforms, have attacked homes, offices and shops in neighborhoods in Khartoum.

Both sides in the conflict have a long history of human rights violations.

The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militia, which is accused of widespread atrocities during a government-suppressed rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region in the early 2000s.

Darfur has also seen heavy clashes in the past five days.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders said gunmen attacked the compound in Nyala in Darfur, stole vehicles and office equipment and ransacked a warehouse storing medical supplies.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its office in Nyala was also looted, with one vehicle taken.

Foreigners, including diplomats and aid workers, have also been trapped by the fighting.

Medical supplies are running out

Hospitals in Khartoum lack medical supplies, often operating without electricity and clean water, the ICRC said in a statement.

Dozens of health care facilities in Khartoum and across the country have been shut down as clashes near, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said Wednesday. At least nine hospitals were bombed, he said.

“Our main priority is to get medical help to hospitals and to try to repair water and electricity lines so that we can treat the wounded,” said Patrick Youssef, ICRC regional director for Africa.

But the fight has not reached the facility.

The UN World Health Organization said on Wednesday at least 296 people had been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since the war began, without giving a breakdown of the number of civilians and combatants killed.