Sudan’s brutal war spirals into chaos

One month since Sudan’s conflict erupted, its capital is a desolate war zone where terrorised families huddle at home as gun battles rage.

Passengers fleeing war-torn Sudan arrive at Qastal Lan Port crossing between Egypt and Sudan. Picture: AFP

One month since Sudan’s conflict erupted, its capital is a desolate war zone where terrorised families huddle at home as gun battles rage, while the western Darfur region has descended into deadly chaos.

Residents of Khartoum have endured weeks of desperate food shortages, power blackouts, communications outages and runaway inflation.

The capital of five million, long a place of relative stability, has ­become a shell of its former self.

Charred aircraft lie on the airport tarmac, foreign embassies are shut and hospitals, banks, shops and wheat silos have been ransacked by looters.

Violence also renewed in ­Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, leaving hundreds killed and the health system in “total collapse”, medics said.

Fighting has continued this week, with loud explosions heard across Khartoum and thick smoke in the sky while warplanes draw anti-aircraft fire.

“The situation is becoming worse by the day,” said a 37-year-old resident of southern Khartoum who did not wish to be named because of safety concerns.

“People are getting more and more scared because the two sides … are becoming more and more ­violent.”

Sudanese drivers wait by their buses upon arrival at the Egyptian village of Wadi Karkar near Aswan. Picture: AFP

Another witness reported “clashes with various types of weapons” in Omdurman, the capital’s twin city.

Battles erupted on April 15 ­between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

What remains of the government has retreated to Port Sudan about 850km away, the hub for mass evacuations.

The UN says more than 700,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting, and nearly 200,000 have fled for neighbouring countries.

There are fears for the stability of the wider region.

“We’re left on the street, in the sun,” complained Hamden ­Moh­am­med, who escaped the Khartoum area for Port Sudan. “We want the organisations to evacuate us from Sudan, because the country is totally devastated. There’s no food, no work … nothing.”

About 1000 people have been killed, mainly in and around Khartoum as well as the ravaged state of West Darfur, according to medics.

Violence at the weekend in ­Geneina killed at least 280, ­according to the Sudanese doctors’ union.

“There was still heavy shelling on Sunday that hit my home, damaging a part of it and injuring one of my sisters,” one Geneina resident said. “Other houses around us were completely destroyed.”

Refugees from Sudan cross into Ethiopia. Picture: AFP

After a month of war, General Burhan declared he was freezing the assets of the RSF which, analysts say, has interests in Sudan’s gold mines.

General Burhan dismissed the central bank governor and the police director-general, while General Dagalo threatened in an audio recording that the army chief would be “brought to justice and hanged” publicly.

Neither side has been able to establish dominance on the battlefield, and experts have forecast a protracted conflict.

The army, backed by Egypt, has the advantage of air power while General Dagalo is, according to experts, supported by the United Arab Emirates and foreign fighters.

General Dagalo commands troops that stemmed from the ­notorious Janjaweed militia, accused of atrocities in a war that began in Darfur two decades ago. The scorched-earth campaign killed up to 300,000 people and uprooted more than 2.7 million, the UN said. Many were still living in Darfur’s displacement camps as war returned to the region.

Multiple truce deals in the current conflict have been violated.

Sudan has a long history of military coups, but hopes had risen after mass protests led to the ouster of Islamist-backed strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019, followed by a shaky transition toward civilian rule.

As Washington and other foreign powers lifted sanctions, Sudan was slowly reintegrating into the international community, before the generals derailed that transition with another coup in 2021.

The security breakdown has extended beyond Khartoum and Darfur to other regions. Ethnic ­violence last week killed more than 50 people in West Kordofan and White Nile states.

The fighting has deepened the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where one in three people already relied on humanitarian assistance before the war.

Since then, aid agencies have been looted and at least 18 of their workers killed.

Diplomatic centres have also been targeted. Jordan on Monday issued a condemnation after its Khartoum embassy building “was stormed and attacked”. Across the Red Sea, in the Saudi city of Jeddah, envoys from both sides have been negotiating.

By May 11 they had signed a commitment to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid.

Doctors Without Borders said food shortages in Darfur displacement camps mean “people have gone from three meals a day to just one”.

AFP