SUDAN CONFLICT SHOWS NO SIGN OF
EASING, U.N. WARNS OF BREAKING POINT
KHARTOUM - As foreign states wind down their evacuations from Sudan, the United Nations warned of a humanitarian “breaking point” with no let up in fighting between rival military factions despite a supposed ceasefire extension.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded over 16 days of battles since long-simmering tension between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15.
There seems little prospect of a quick resolution to the crisis, which has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, damaged swathes of the capital Khartoum, risked drawing in regional powers and reignited a simmering conflict in the Darfur region.
Both sides had agreed on Sunday to extend a much-violated truce by 72 hours, but the sound of airstrikes and anti-aircraft fire rang out across Khartoum on Monday morning.
Sudanese who ventured out said the city was transformed.
“We saw dead bodies. An industrial area that was all looted. We saw people carrying TVs on their backs and big sacks looted from factories,” said Mohamed Ezzeldin, who had fled Khartoum but returned because the influx of displaced people had made costs too high else
where. Many fear for their lives in a nationwide power struggle between the army chief and RSF head, who had shared control of government after a 2021 coup but fell out over a planned transition back to civilian rule.
Thousands of Sudanese have fled, along with many foreigners pulled out by their governments over the past week in a series of complex operations by air, sea and land. European countries including Germany have ended their evacuations and Britain’s last evacuation flight will depart on Monday.
Those remaining face bit
ter hardship and terrible danger. “I show up to work for two or three hours then I close up because it’s not safe,” said Abdelbagi, a barber in the capital Khartoum who said he had to keep working as prices were rising.