There is no respite in the fighting in Sudan. The situation of the people is getting worse and there are supply bottlenecks. Due to a contested location, outside help is impossible.
Due to the ongoing fighting in Sudan, tens of thousands of people in the capital Khartoum are still unable to leave their homes. According to eyewitnesses and a reporter from the German Press Agency, air raids and artillery fire continued on Thursday.
The airport and the military general command in Khartoum continued to be particularly affected by the fighting between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Heavy fighting also continued in other parts of the country.
More than 300 dead
According to the UN, there has been no electricity or running water in many houses for days. Thousands of people are running out of drinking water, food, petrol and medicines. Health care has all but collapsed, the Sudan Medical Committee said. According to eyewitnesses, dead bodies lie on the streets of the capital. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of deaths known to date rose to around 330. Around 3,200 people were injured.
In the country in north-east Africa, which has been politically unstable for years, the army has been fighting for power against the once-allied RSF since Saturday. In the gold and oil-rich country with around 46 million inhabitants, a military transitional government has ruled since 2019, which was supposed to initiate a process of democratization this month.
According to a dpa reporter, thousands of residents have been trying to leave the capital, where the fighting has been the worst so far, since Wednesday. They are faced with the challenge of deciding which is safer: hole up at home, risking being bombed, or flee – risking being shot in the crossfire.
Evacuation mission aborted
Several attempts to organize a ceasefire have failed in recent days. The federal government had to cancel an evacuation mission of German citizens with Bundeswehr machines from Sudan because of the security situation on Wednesday afternoon.
Welthungerhilfe warned of a “humanitarian tragedy”. Even before the violence broke out, one in five people in Sudan was starving, it said. The situation in the western region of Darfur is particularly dramatic.
Millions of children at risk
The UN children’s fund Unicef warned that the escalating violence endangers millions of children. At least nine children were reportedly killed and more than 50 injured in the fighting. In addition, according to UNICEF, the fighting interrupted the life-saving care of around 50,000 acutely malnourished children. Vaccines, insulin and antibiotics that require refrigeration have been destroyed due to nationwide power outages, Save the Children said.
The El Fasher hospital in north Darfur was running out of medical supplies to treat patients, Ghazali Babiker, MSF’s deputy country coordinator in Sudan, said on Thursday. Since the embattled international airport in Khartoum has been closed since Saturday, no medical supplies or surgical teams could have been flown in. The WHO again called on the parties to the conflict with the utmost urgency for a humanitarian ceasefire.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
