DUBAI/CAIRO – Khartoum seemed calmer on Saturday morning after a seven-day cease-fire appeared to diminish hostilities between two competing military factions, while the promised humanitarian aid to millions besieged in the capital has yet to arrive.
A truce negotiated on Monday by Sudan’s army and a paramilitary organization known as the Rapid Support Forces aimed to provide safe passage for humanitarian aid and pave the way for larger talks backed by the US and Saudi Arabia.
Witnesses claimed Khartoum was calmer on Saturday, while intermittent confrontations were recorded overnight. Al-Arabiya, a Gulf channel, reported fighting in northern Khartoum and southern Omdurman, a city near the capital.
The RSF accused the army of breaking the cease-fire and destroying the country’s mint in an air strike in a statement issued on Saturday. On Friday, the army accused the RSF of attacking the mint.
Meanwhile, the army stated that its call for army reservists on Friday was a partial mobilization and constitutional action, and that it expected a considerable number of people to react.
The fighting, which began on April 15, has killed at least 730 civilians and displaced 1.3 million Sudanese, who have fled to safer regions of the nation or overseas.
Those who stay in Khartoum face outages in services such as electricity, water, and phone networks. Looters have ransacked homes, mostly in affluent areas.
Sudanese police announced on Saturday that they were expanding their deployment and had enlisted the assistance of capable former officers.
“Our neighborhood has devolved into a war zone.” “Services have collapsed and chaos has spread in Khartoum,” said Ahmed Salih, a 52-year-old city resident.
“Neither the government nor the international community is interested in assisting the Sudanese people.” Where is the humanity when we are humans?” He went on to say.
Despite the peace, humanitarian organizations say they have failed to obtain the bureaucratic and security guarantees needed to convey aid and personnel from safer regions of the nation to Khartoum and other hot spots. Warehouses have been ransacked.
Fighting has also spread into the vulnerable Darfur region, most notably in the western city of El Geneina, where militia raids have devastated infrastructure and killed hundreds.
Since the crisis began, the government’s Combating Violence Against Women and Children Unit has received reports of 25 cases of rape of women and girls in Darfur and 24 cases of rape in Khartoum.
According to the report, 43 of the guys were wearing RSF uniforms and driving vehicles with RSF licenses or were in RSF-controlled areas.
“The unit expresses its grave concern over reports of gang rape, kidnapping… and reports of women and girls facing sexual assault as they go out to seek food,” it stated.
The RSF has refuted claims of sexual assaults or looting by its soldiers.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the unit’s claims.
Source: Reuters
