KHARTOUM: On Sunday, shelling and airstrikes pounded various districts of the capital of Sudan, showing no hint that the warring military groups were prepared to give ground in a fight that has claimed hundreds of lives despite truce talks in Saudi Arabia.
Khartoum and the neighbouring cities of Bahri and Omdurman across the two branches of the Nile and western Darfur region have been a major theatre of war since the army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary started fighting a month ago.
According to Reuters, airstrikes targeted Omdurman region early on Sunday and shelling hit Bahri.
According to Al Arabiya television, heavy fighting was seen in central Khartoum.
Salma Yassin, a teacher in Omdurman, said that there were substantial air strikes near in Saliha that shook the doors of her house
The fighting has killed hundreds of people and forced 200,000 into neighbouring countries as refugees.
Around 700,000 have been displaced inside Sudan, triggering a humanitarian crisis and threatening to draw in outside powers and destabilising the region.
The number of deaths in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, reached more than 100 by Saturday.
The imam of the city’s old mosque was also killed in the fighting, the Darfur Bar Association said in a statement.
In Geneina, where hundreds perished in violence last month, a local rights organisation accused attacks by armed groups on motorbikes and the RSF for the killings, looting, and arson. The RSF has disclaimed ownership of the turmoil.
After a coup in 2021, which itself came after a 2019 revolt that toppled longtime Islamist tyrant Omar al-Bashir, army head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, shared control.
With the army commanding air power and the RSF entrenched in urban areas, they disagreed over the specifics and timing of a planned transition to civilian authority, and neither leader has demonstrated that he is willing to make concessions.
Although cease-fire agreements have been routinely breached, the United States and Saudi Arabia are mediating negotiations in Jeddah to achieve a permanent halt to hostilities.
“You have no idea how long this battle will last… We no longer feel comfortable in the home, and we lack the funds to leave Khartoum. “Why are we paying for Burhan and Hemedti’s war?” asked Yassin.
Fighting has continued despite the sides’ Thursday “declaration of principles” to protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access is secured. Discussions on Sunday are expected to address monitoring and enforcement methods for that agreement.
