Residents in Khartoum and Darfur reported increased lawlessness after rival military factions clashed overnight.
The army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) resumed fighting after a Saudi-US-brokered ceasefire expired late Saturday.
More than 1.2 million Sudanese have been displaced, with 400,000 fleeing to neighboring countries, wreaking havoc on the capital, where residents are at the mercy of battles, air strikes, and lawlessness.
Residents reported heavy fighting late Sunday in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri, the nation’s capital, and smoke was seen rising early Monday.
“Our neighborhood in the center of Omdurman is looted publicly on a daily basis without anyone intervening, with clashes and shelling continuing around us,” said Mohamed Saleh, 37.
According to Waleed Adam, a resident of Khartoum East, RSF troops are in full control and looting in neighborhoods throughout the capital.
“You see them right in front of you, taking cars, money, gold – whatever they can get their hands on,” he said over the phone. “I guess it’s just a matter of time until they come to my street.”
To protect civilians, the RSF arrests looters.
THE VIOLENCE OF DARFU
The war has also sparked unrest in Darfur, Sudan’s far western region, where Arab nomadic tribe militias have attacked a number of cities and towns.
According to activists monitoring North Darfur, at least 40 people have been killed in Kutum in recent days, with dozens more injured. Looting and insecurity were widespread, according to residents.
The RSF, based in Darfur and originating in Arab-dominated militias, claimed to have taken over the army headquarters in Kutum, a commercial hub and one of the state’s largest towns, in a video released on Monday.
The army, which had denied that the RSF had taken the town on Sunday, remained silent.
Due to long communication blackouts, aid organizations have struggled to bring humanitarian supplies into Darfur.
Residents of El Obeid, 360 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum and on a major route to Darfur, reported large RSF deployments and road closures.
The first rains of the year have arrived in Khartoum, complicating an already complicated relief effort plagued by bureaucratic delays and logistical issues.
