© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man walks as smoke billows over buildings following aerial bombardment during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North on May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Noureldin Abdullah
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Air strikes, artillery and rifle fire rocked several areas of the Sudanese capital on Monday, as fighting between warring factions intensified for a second day, trapping civilians in a deepening humanitarian crisis.
War between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has raged for nearly two months, forcing nearly two million people to flee and devastating the economy, causing frequent power and water cuts.
The talks in Jeddah failed to end the fighting permanently and clashes intensified once the ceasefire expired on Sunday.
While the RSF has spread across most of the capital, taking control of the main streets and setting up camp inside some homes, the army has the advantage in air and artillery weapons.
Residents of eastern Khartoum reported being subjected to airstrikes, while residents of southern Khartoum and northern Omdurman reported being subjected to artillery shelling. Eyewitnesses also reported clashes in central Khartoum.
“Since yesterday, the war has returned and there are strikes from all directions,” said Awatif Sayed Ahmed, 43, who lives in the east of the Nile, on the banks of the Nile from Khartoum.
“Our neighborhood is a war zone, so leaving is hard and staying home is hard. We don’t know what to do.”
Those who remain also suffer from dwindling funds as the government has stopped paying salaries and pensions.
More than 200,000 of the 1.9 million Sudanese who managed to flee their homes have gone to Egypt, which this week imposed a visa requirement for children, women and the elderly who had previously been exempted.
Sources at Cairo Airport said that hundreds of Sudanese were returned to Cairo Airport and returned on return flights after canceling a similar exception for those residing in the West and Gulf countries.
Darfur fighting
Neither side made visible progress, and the fighting spread to several cities to the west in the Kordofan and Darfur regions.
In the westernmost city of El Geneina, militias backed by the Rapid Support Forces launched attacks on the city, which has now lost access to electricity and running water. Tens of thousands fled to Chad.
Activist Kamal al-Zein told Reuters he had heard from three activists in the city, which has been largely cut off from communications networks, that 1,100 people had been killed and 3,000 wounded since the attacks began in April.
Reuters could not immediately verify the figures. The highest official death toll by the Sudanese Ministry of Health was 510, reported in late May.
In a statement on Sunday’s heavy fighting in Bahri, the army said that while it managed to make gains against the RSF and claimed to have killed hundreds, it also lost many soldiers. He blamed the RSF for the deadly airstrikes on civilians in southern Khartoum.
The Rapid Support Forces said the army used the 24-hour ceasefire on Saturday to reposition forces and attack immediately afterwards.
Kenyan President William Ruto said on Monday that East African countries will hold face-to-face meetings with army chiefs and the Rapid Support Forces within 10 days to discuss stopping the war and humanitarian corridors.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that agencies had managed to deliver supplies to two million people, including 57 cross-line movements.
This included medical supplies for the 42,000 people living on Tuti Island on the Nile, where residents said the only bridge to the mainland had been closed by the RSF, cutting off supplies of food and medicine.
