Khartoum — Sudan is engulfed in strife, and to say it is going through a terrible time is an understatement.
The country has been involved in a violent and tragic conflict for the third day, with around 100 people killed and hundreds more injured.
Blood supplies and life-saving equipment are running low in hospitals, forcing the declaration of a humanitarian crisis.
The conflict
The Sudanese military and the paramilitary outfit Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began fighting on Saturday.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, leads the RSF, which claims the army violated a UN-brokered humanitarian truce.
On Monday, Hemedti vowed that the organization will seek and punish Sudan’s Armed Forces chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
In the meanwhile, the Sudanese army has urged paramilitaries to defect and join it.
On Monday, Khartoum residents had no option but to listen as jets unloaded ammunition and mortars.
Witnesses reported hearing mortars in the early hours of the morning.
Fighting erupted near Khartoum International Airport and Sudanese Army military posts after morning prayers.
Military planes and helicopters can be seen flying above the airport in the clip.
Another video depicted the aftermath of a Sunday fire that devoured the army’s General Command facility nearby.
Residents to the east of the airport reported seeing planes hit targets east of the command.
“We saw explosions and smoke rising from Obaid Khatim Street, and immediately after that, anti-aircraft artillery fired massively towards the plans,” said an eyewitness.
Capital control
The two factions are vying for control of Khartoum, the capital, throughout the pandemonium.
The armed forces declared on Monday that the Rapid Support Forces were distributing false information to deceive the people and that the army had total control of all of their Khartoum headquarters.
Sudan’s main state television channel re-entered the airwaves on Monday after going black the day before, carrying pro-army content.
A banner emerged on the channel that read:
“The armed forces were able to regain control of the national broadcaster after repeated attempts by the militias to destroy its infrastructure.”
Street fights
Street clashes began in the Kafouri neighborhood of north Khartoum on Monday morning, forcing women and children to escape.
Meanwhile, people in Khartoum’s Kalakla area reported hearing booms that shook their homes.
Over the weekend, there were also reports of fighting in the eastern city of Port Sudan and the western Darfur area.
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The toll
At least 97 persons were killed, according to the Preliminary Committee of the Sudanese Doctors labor union.
The World Health Organization stated on Sunday that 1,126 individuals had been injured.
Doctors and nurses are struggling to treat patients in need of urgent care, according to the WHO, due to a scarcity of critical supplies.
They made the following announcement:
“Supplies distributed by WHO to health facilities prior to this recent escalation of conflict are now exhausted, and many of the nine hospitals in Khartoum receiving injured civilians are reporting shortages of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids, medical supplies, and other life-saving commodities.”
The WHO also stated that water and power outages were posing issues for health-care institutions, and that hospital generator fuel was running low.
Blames and civilians
According to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the military initiated the conflict, and the RSF had no choice but to continue fighting in order to protect itself.
He was certain that the army chief and al-Burhan had lost control of the troops.
Dagalo further stated that he has no ambition to rule Sudan and that a civilian government be established.
Civilians were told to stay at home during the mayhem.
Residents, according to one homeowner, were stuck in their homes with little to no safety.
“All we can hear is continuous blast after blast,” they wrote.
“What exactly is happening and where, we don’t know, but it feels like it’s directly over our heads.”
Halted services and evacuations
Other nations and organizations have been made aware of the Sudan conflict.
The UN World Food Program temporarily ceased all activities in Sudan after three staff members were killed in the fighting on Saturday.
The UN and other humanitarian agencies in Darfur were looted, according to the international help group.
Meanwhile, in Khartoum, gunfire damaged a World Food Programme-managed aircraft, limiting the WFP’s capacity to transport commodities and staff.
Qatar Airways said on Sunday that it will suspend flights to and from Khartoum due to the closure of its airport and airspace.
According to Dagalo, the RSF is in charge of the capital’s airport as well as other government infrastructure.
Mexico is working to evacuate its citizens, with the foreign minister stating that the government aims to get them out by Sunday.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Sudan stated that no arrangements had been made for a government-coordinated evacuation of Americans, citing the shutdown of Khartoum International Airport.
It encouraged Americans in Sudan to stay indoors, threatening to impose a state of emergency for private US individuals if necessary.
Calls for peace
The most recent conflicts spurred widespread demands for peace talks and discussions.
The African Union Commission’s chairman, Moussa Faki, is due to arrive in Khartoum on Monday to put an end to the bloodshed.
Both the United States’ Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, have called for a quick cease-fire.
“People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks, they want democracy, they want a civilian-led government,” said Blinken.
“Sudan needs to return to that path.”
According to the UN political mission, Sudan’s two warring groups have reached an agreement, but the ramifications are unknown.
