Despite international appeals, fighting between the army and the RSF militia continues in Sudan. Thousands of bodies are apparently lying on the streets in Khartoum. Aid organizations warn of epidemics.
The fighting between the army and militias in Sudan has been going on for months – and according to the aid organization Save the Children, the risk of epidemics is also increasing. Thousands of decomposing bodies lie in the streets of the capital Khartoum. In addition, the city’s morgues could no longer be cooled due to regular power outages, the organization said.
Water is also becoming scarce and there are hardly any treatment options available. A cholera outbreak in the city is therefore to be feared – while the health system has almost completely collapsed. Of the 89 hospitals and wards in Khartoum, 71 are no longer in operation. The remaining facilities are often the target of attacks or looting, Save the Children said. The health system is hanging by a thread.
UN: Unsustainable situation in Sudan
The United Nations also warn of an intolerable situation in the country. A UN spokesman in Geneva said that the ten refugee camps in the state of White Nile, where 144,000 displaced persons from the Khartoum region had sought protection, lacked medicines, staff and supplies. Because many families have been away for weeks, malnutrition and outbreaks of disease are increasing.
Because supply routes are interrupted, medicines and other relief supplies are becoming scarce. Due to persistent rainfall and flooding, not only further cholera but also malaria diseases are to be expected in the coming months.
20.3 million people – 42 percent of the population of Sudan – do not always know how to get their next meal. 6.2 million people could soon have hardly anything to eat. UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said that the health and nutritional status of refugees who had left Sudan for neighboring countries had deteriorated drastically. According to the United Nations, a regional aid plan by UNHCR and partner organizations worth 566 million US dollars (515 million euros) is only about a quarter funded.
Fighting has intensified again
Despite international appeals to work on a peace agreement, fighting between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF militia has intensified in recent weeks, reports the AFP news agency.
Since Monday, government forces have been attempting to seize a bridge over the Nile linking Khartoum with the city of Omdurman across the river, residents told Reuters. They used Luftwaffe and heavy artillery. The RSF, which gets its supplies across the bridge and has occupied a large part of the capital, launched massive counterattacks.
“The situation in Omdurman is terrible,” city resident Nader Abdullah told Reuters in a phone call. “Gunfire, artillery thunder and airstrikes – there’s fire in all directions.”
Apparently attacks on residential areas
According to information from Reuters, the army has also recently bombed residential areas from the air in order to hit militia bases. They responded with drone attacks. At least 20 civilians have died in the recent fighting, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Health.
Both sides have claimed military successes in recent days, but there is no sign of either side gaining the upper hand. Efforts by Saudi Arabia and the US to broker a ceasefire have come to a halt for the time being.
About four million displaced
According to the UN, three million people have been displaced in the country since the fighting broke out in mid-April by the beginning of August. In addition, 880,000 people have now fled across the borders to neighboring countries, the UN emergency aid office Ocha reported. According to this, host countries are the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
According to the non-governmental organization Acled, at least 3,900 people were killed, but the actual number of victims is likely to be far higher. Save the Children estimates that 2,435 children have been injured or killed so far.
Fight in the Khartoum and Darfur regions
In the northeast African country, the army under de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been fighting the paramilitary militia RSF of former deputy ruler Mohammed Hamdan Daglo since mid-April. The generals had seized power together, but then fell out.
The fighting is particularly concentrated in Khartoum and the neighboring cities, as well as in the Darfur region in the west of the country. The parties to the conflict often fight in the immediate vicinity of residential areas.