Hundreds of people, including dozens of childrenhave been killed in Sudan in recent days, according to civilian witnesses, medical workers and the United Nations, while ferocious clashes have intensified in an internal conflict approaching his third year.
The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary forces of rapid support sparked a wave of devastation through Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people, forcing millions to flee their homes and pushing parts of the vast nation more deeply in famine.
“Citizens are currently living in a state of panic,” said Asim Ahmed Musa, 29, activist of Kadugli in the state of southern Kordofan, where dozens were killed this week. “People are afraid.”
In the capital, Khartoum and the adjacent cities, the Darfur region in the west, and in several other states, the ruinous war is intensifying while the parties at war are trying to consolidate their territorial claims, to find news And to secure strategic military and civil sites.
The conflict was marked by raw atrocities and ethnic motivation murders, which prompted investigations to the international criminal court and accusations of genocide in the United States.
In recent weeks, the army has amplified its offensive to take up important parties from the capital, which it lost when the war began in April 2023. The conflict has been warmed slowly since the end of last year after the end of the rainy season. With the escalation of deaths, injuries and attacks on civilians, militants called on the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the country.
In January, the army captured a strategic oil refinery north of Khartoum and broke the seat in its main headquarters in the center of Khartoum.
The army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Visited installation A few days later, and promised to withdraw the paramilitary forces from “all corners of Sudan”.
But even though the army officers celebrated their victory, the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights accused the combatants and the militia who were allied with them of them of them them Summary execution At least 18 people in newly released areas.
The fighting has also increased in Omdurman, a city in the Nile of the capital which houses around 2.4 million people and is the second city in Sudan. The Sudan Ministry of Health said that at least 54 people were killed and 158 others injured on Saturday when paramilitary forces bombed a busy market.
A few days later, Tuesday, the ministry said that six people were killed and that 38 others were injured when mortar shells hit a main hospital that already treated people injured in the fighting.
Fierce clashes have also followed this week in southern Kordofan, which shares a border with South Sudan, and the Blue Nile States, where millions were already faced with disastrous humanitarian crises.
In the city of Kadugli in the south of Kordofan, the last intestine struggles left at least 80 dead, the The United Nations said this week.
Mr. Musa, who lives in the city, said that many people did not have access to adequate food or drugs. The workers could not receive their wages, he said, and many families had a limited fund, especially after Sudan introduced new banknotes last month.
The clashes continued everywhere in the city, he said, and the sound of bombing and shots had forced many people to be silent.
“Kadugli is currently an active area,” said Musa, adding that the whole situation was “tragic”.
The West Darfur region was also the intense clashes, a scary recovery for a region that experienced a genocide just over two decades.
Since the start of the conflict, paramilitary forces or the RSF, and their allies have accelerated attacks in the region and consolidated their control over major cities.
They also besieged El Fasher, the capital of Darfur du Nord, where they clashed with the army and its allies. An attack on the only functional hospital in El Fasher at the end of January killed 70 people and injured 19 others, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization.
Fights through the region also have displaced hundreds of familiesaccording to the United Nations, pushing some of them to flee through the border in Chad.
The last conflict did not spare children. At least 40 children were killed in just three days this month, UNICEF said this week.
“While the conflict persists, the life of children and the future hang in balance and for their sakes, violence must end immediately,” said Sudan representative of Unicef, Annmarie Swai, said in a press release.
For the moment, the sides at war insist that they can finally cancel the other.
Despite losses in the capital, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Hamdan, the paramilitary chief, delivered a recorded video speech Last week, he sought to restore morale in the strength among his forces and promised to seize a new territory.
“We have to think about what we intend to take,” he said. “Expect forward and not back.”
