 |
| A house hit by shelling after fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Response Forces (RSF) in Khartoum on June 6. (Source: AFP) |
For weeks, homes in the capital Khartoum have been rocked by unabated fighting, with families forced to shelter in place, running out of basic supplies, in the sweltering summer heat.
The UN says nearly 1.5 million people have fled the capital Khartoum since violence erupted in mid-April.
Entire districts of Khartoum are without running water and those who remain in the city have been without electricity since June 22.
The power struggle between national army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has left more than 2,000 people dead.
The bloodiest violence has erupted in Darfur, a vast western region bordering Chad, where the UN has warned of possible crimes against humanity and said the conflict has taken on an "ethnic dimension".
In the capital of South Darfur state, Nyala, residents said they were caught in the crossfire, with battles and shelling.
"Many civilians were killed and the injured are being taken to hospital," said an unnamed medical worker.
The United Nations on June 24 called for "immediate action" to stop the killings of people fleeing El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, by Arab militias supported by paramilitary forces.
The Geneva-based UN human rights office said witnesses had given “corroborating accounts” of militias targeting non-Arab Masalit men. They had witnessed “summary executions” and targeting of civilians on the road from El Geneina to the border between 15 and 16 June.
According to the Sudanese Doctors Association, two-thirds of medical facilities in the main battlefields remain out of service. Some hospitals are still severely short of medical supplies and struggling to get fuel for generators.
The UN says 25 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – are in need of aid and protection. Aid has reached at least 2.8 million people, but humanitarian agencies’ efforts to reach them face major hurdles, from visas for foreign humanitarian workers to securing safe passage.
According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, the Sudanese military does not want aid groups to approach the capital, fearing that the packages will fall into the hands of the RSF as has happened before, allowing the paramilitary forces to hold out longer.
Source
Comment (0)