By John Ikani
Sudan’s conflict has continued to rage on with fightings entering its ninth day. The conflict is a result of a power struggle between two rival military factions – Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. Here are noteworthy updates about the conflict.
Fighting
• Heavy fighting resumed in the morning after a brief lull in hostilities overnight, with plumes of smoke seen rising above the capital’s skyline.
• Residents in the city of Omdurman across the Nile from Khartoum also reported heavy shelling and air raids.
Civilians and casualties
• More than 400 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in the fighting, according to the United Nations.
• Thousands of people are fleeing Khartoum and the western region of Darfur to seek refuge in neighboring Chad.
• Widespread food, water and electricity shortages continue.
• The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors and Sudan’s Doctors Union estimated that nearly 70 percent, or 39 out of 59 hospitals, in Khartoum and nearby states have closed.
• Reports of the worst violence have come from Darfur.
• A UN update on Saturday said looters had taken at least 10 World Food Programme vehicles and six other food trucks after overrunning the agency’s offices and warehouses in Nyala in South Darfur.
• The aid group Doctors Without Borders appealed for safe passage. “We need ports of entry where we can bring specialist trauma staff and medical supplies,” said Abdalla Hussein, Sudan operations manager for the medical charity.
• More than 150 students from the International University of Africa in Khartoum arrived in the southeastern city of Gadarif so they can be evacuated to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to government sources.
• In the city of Darduk, north of Khartoum, people held rallies to demand an end to hostilities. Internet service is nearly entirely down in Sudan, according to the organization NetBlocks.
Diplomacy
• France has started to evacuate its citizens and diplomatic staff from Sudan.
• The US military has evacuated US embassy staff from Khartoum, with President Joe Biden calling for an end to the “unconscionable” fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.
• Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra has announced that the Netherlands has also joined an international effort to evacuate its citizens from Sudan.
• The UK said it is “integrated” into the operations of international partners to evacuate staff.
• Saudi Arabia has evacuated Gulf citizens from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, and Jordan plans to use the same route to evacuate its nationals.
• South Korea has said a military plane is in Djibouti, and arrangements will be made to evacuate its nationals from Sudan.
