Residents of Sudan’s capital city Khartoum reported heavy air strikes in the city’s center on Tuesday in response to an increase in looting, despite Saudi Arabia reporting that negotiators were working toward a temporary ceasefire.
According to witnesses, the military launched a massive air assault on Khartoum’s city center and the area surrounding the presidential palace. According to an army source, the palace was not destroyed in an air strike by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which also claims control of the building.
Since fighting erupted in Khartoum on April 15, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, resulting in an aid crisis. According to the United Nations’ migration agency, the number of internally displaced people in Sudan has increased by more than 100 percent in the last week, reaching 700,000.
After previous ceasefire attempts failed, representatives from both sides met on Saturday in the Saudi port city of Jeddah to try again.
The Saudi foreign ministry issued their first official statement on the talks on Tuesday, saying they hoped to reach “an effective short-term ceasefire,” according to Saudi state TV Al-Ekhbariya.
According to a U.N. spokesperson, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths has proposed that the warring parties sign a declaration guaranteeing the safe passage of aid supplies, and this proposal has been discussed in Jeddah, amid warnings that Sudan is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.
Griffiths “hopes the declaration can be endorsed as soon as possible so that the relief operation can scale up swiftly and safely to meet the needs of millions of people in Sudan,” according to Farhan Haq, the United Nations’ deputy spokesperson.
According to the UN, 5 million more people will require emergency assistance within Sudan, and 860,000 will flee to neighboring countries that are already in crisis. This comes at a time when rich countries’ aid has been reduced.
The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday that the number of confirmed deaths in the conflict had risen to over 600, with an additional 5,000 people injured.
Eyewitnesses report that lawlessness has spread throughout Khartoum and its neighboring cities of Omdurman and Bahri. “The biggest danger is the spread of robbery and looting, as well as the total absence of police and the rule of law,” Ahmed Saleh, 45, of Bahri, said.
Residents claim that their homes, businesses, and warehouses have all been targeted. The Sudanese Banks Union has condemned the theft and vandalism that has occurred at some of their branches, expressing hope that normal operations will resume as soon as possible.
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF has the potential to turn into a long-term conflict, bringing in new powers and triggering a new humanitarian crisis in the region.
A military coup led by army General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, reorganized the country’s transition to civilian rule in 2021.
Fighting erupted in Khartoum in April and quickly spread to the Darfur region, where a conflict had been raging since 2003, due to a disagreement between opposing military factions over the terms and timing of the transition.
The United States remains committed to returning Sudan to civilian democratic governance, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also stated that the US is working in Jeddah for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid agreement.
Burhan stressed in a phone interview with an Egyptian television station on Monday that the focus of the talks in Jeddah was on easing the burden on civilians rather than reaching a political compromise. He claimed that the RSF had cut off power and phone service in their territories.
The RSF has denied reports of looting and other abuses and stated in statements that it is working to keep services in Khartoum operational. The army was reported to have conducted airstrikes in residential areas on Tuesday.
