A power struggle between Sudan’s armed forces and its rival faction, the Rapid Support Forces, has turned residential streets into war zones
By Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker Abdalla
Hundreds of civilians have been killed during two months of fighting. Nearly two million people have fled their homes, and hundreds of thousands of people have escaped to neighboring countries like Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. U.S., and the Saudi-led talks to broker an end to the war have so far failed.
Nearly half of Sudan’s remaining population is in dire humanitarian need. Gunfire, explosions, and men with guns now rule the Sudanese capital. These are the sounds and sights of civil war. A power struggle between Sudan’s armed forces and its rival faction, the Rapid Support Forces, has turned residential streets into war zones. Not even children are spared. The smallest coffins are the heaviest. Nearly 300 children who survived at the orphanage were rescued by a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross. But 14 million children in Sudan remain trapped and in urgent need of lifesaving support. The warring factions attack hospitals and loot aid warehouses, further crippling essential infrastructure already on the brink of collapse. More than 70 per cent of medical centers in Khartoum and adjoining cities have shut down since the war began and thousands have fled.
I realized Khartoum is not a safe place for us anymore. It was terrible and terrifying, scary, the hours, the days that they went through, with all the sound of missiles and gunshots and screaming, and crying. Sudan is facing a starvation crisis. People in Khartoum are starving. The power struggle in Khartoum has reignited the conflict in West Darfur.
The very schools that were once shelters for the internally displaced have been burned to the ground. Darfur is a state the size of Spain and Western Sudan bordering Chad. It has been a conflict zone for over two decades. In 2003, interethnic violence was brutally crushed by the government-backed Janjaweed Arab militia, leaving 300,000 civilians dead. The Janjaweed gave birth to the RSF, which, along with other Arab militias, is behind the recent and ongoing slaughter of civilians in Darfur.
Entire villages have been reduced to ashes, and crucial civilian infrastructure, government buildings, courts and markets have all been destroyed. The governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abakar was killed in El Geneina after he had accused the group of genocide. Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed in Darfur. There is a big catastrophe in West Darfur. They aren’t able to find water to drink or food. They go five to six days without finding food to eat. Those who are injured have no hospitals to go to. They don’t have any of the resources they need here in West Darfur. The biggest crisis is that there aren’t any medicines. With international humanitarian organizations having no access to Darfur, at least 100,000 refugees have crossed the border on foot and horseback to Chad. But with the rainy season approaching there and services strained in already crowded camps, it is far from a sanctuary.
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A poet and writer from Omdurman Umbda –Sudan, Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker works as an English Instructor, Trainer and Freelance Interpreter. He also has been working as a debate leader discussing various topics in many English Institutes, Centers, Academy and schools. He represents Sindh Courier as Honorary Correspondent in Sudan.
