On Wednesday, residents said Sudan’s army was defending a military industrial complex in southern Khartoum near fuel and gas depots that could explode.
Witnesses said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the Yarmouk complex late on Tuesday before retreating after heavy fighting. Clashes continued Wednesday morning.
After war broke out in Khartoum on April 15, the RSF quickly took over parts of the capital. Army air strikes and artillery fire have failed to dislodge them, but as the fighting drags on, the RSF may have trouble restocking ammunition and fuel.
After repeated violations, a 12-day ceasefire in Sudan’s greater capital region—Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman—expired on June 3.
“Since yesterday there has been a violent battle with the use of planes and artillery and clashes on the ground and columns of smoke rising,” Nader Youssef told Reuters by phone.
“Any explosion could destroy residents and the whole area” due to fuel and gas depots nearby, he said.
Four years after a popular uprising overthrew strongman president Omar al-Bashir, the fighting halted the transition to civilian rule. The transition’s chain of command and military restructuring plans split the army and RSF, which staged a coup in 2021.
WATER SHORTAGES
The conflict has devastated the capital, reignited deadly violence in Darfur’s western region, and displaced over 1.9 million people.
Most health services have collapsed, power and water are often cut, and looting has spread.
Local activists in Bahri, north of Khartoum on the Blue Nile, said that over 50 days of water cuts had forced many people from their homes and left them trapped in the crossfire as they searched for water.
According to estimates released Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 1,428,000 Sudanese have been displaced and 476,800 have fled to neighboring countries, most of which are already impoverished and in conflict.
The fighting has killed at least 780 civilians, according to Sudan’s health ministry. West Darfur’s El Geneina has seen hundreds more deaths. Many bodies are uncollected or unrecorded, according to medical officials.
At talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the US brokered the ceasefire that ended on Saturday. A mediator said negotiations were ongoing to ensure humanitarian aid’s safe passage.
The source said consultations for a new truce deal, reported by Saudi TV station Al Arabiya on Tuesday, were early and complicated by the fighting.
The UN says aid for 2.2 million people has been delivered since late May, but 25 million people—more than half the population—need help.
