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SUDAN CONFLICT: RESIDENTS FLEE CAPITAL KHARTOUM AS FIGHTING CONTINUES

Published
1 day ago

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Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Smoke billows over the Sudanese capital Khartoum
By Mohamed Osman & Matt Murphy
BBC News, in Khartoum and London


Thousands of civilians have fled Sudan's capital and foreign nations are trying
to evacuate their citizens, amid a fifth day of fierce fighting.

Witnesses reported people leaving Khartoum in cars and on foot on Wednesday
morning, as gunfire and deafening explosions rocked the city.

Meanwhile, officials in Japan and Tanzania say they are considering missions to
evacuate their citizens.

The exodus follows Tuesday's collapsed ceasefire between the warring factions.

The Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed
a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire on Tuesday, but the truce collapsed within
minutes of its proposed launch at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

A new ceasefire with the same timing was put forward by the RSF on Wednesday.
The army said it would abide by the truce - but gunfire can still be heard
across the capital.



Smoke can be seen over the area of the army headquarters in the centre of the
city, where much of the fighting between rival military factions is centred.

Mohammed Alamin, a journalist based in Khartoum, told BBC Focus on Africa radio
that the gunfire hadn't stopped, despite the supposed ceasefire.

"It's really horrible - these warring parties are firing randomly everywhere,"
he said. "I saw, myself, hundreds of people going outside Khartoum, rushing to
travel to the neighbouring states."

Some civilians did not know what was happening - while others directed their
anger at both sides.

"Basically the people think that this war is against them," Mr Alamin said.
"This is what the people told me in the streets."

He also said that one problem with implementing the ceasefire might be the
fragmented forces in the city.



"There is a kind of a disconnection between these troops - they are fighting in
different areas, in different places with less communication...," he said.

The fighting at the moment mostly involves shelling, not heavy air bombardments.

Civilians began to flee the capital early on Wednesday morning after fighting
resumed and Khartoum was enveloped in thick black smoke following explosions
near the army headquarters.

Witnesses reported heavily armed RSF fighters patrolling the city on pick-up
trucks, while fighter jets loyal to the military conducted strikes on targets
believed to be held by the paramilitary forces.

A shortage of fuel and a lack of public transport has seen many of those fleeing
forced to do so on foot, with some seeking to get passage to central and western
Sudan - where their families live - on flatbed trucks.

One local fleeing the capital told the BBC that the RSF had set up checkpoints
on roads around the city and some of its fighters had robbed him, stealing his
phone and some money.



Robberies have also been reported in areas of the capital itself. On Tuesday,
residents of the Khartoum 2 area told the BBC that the RSF militia had been
going house-to-house in the neighbourhood demanding water and food.

 * Live updates on the Sudan crisis
 * 'We're expecting to get shot' - Sudan doctor
 * The two generals fighting over Sudan's future
 * What is going on in Sudan? A simple guide

As the fighting intensifies, a number of nations say they have started
preparations to evacuate their citizens from the country.

Japan said its Self Defence Forces were considering how to evacuate some 60
Japanese citizens from Sudan, with a military plane placed on standby.

Tanzania's Foreign Affairs Minister Stergomena Tax told parliament that her
government was also evaluating whether it was possible to evacuate 210 of its
citizens.

However, the US embassy in Khartoum said "the uncertain security situation" in
the capital meant there were no plans for a "US government-coordinated
evacuation".

And the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told
the BBC that it was advising locals calling it for help to stay put and avoid
putting themselves in the line of fire.

"Whoever calls, we tell them the truth: 'Look, right now it's a challenge to get
you out, and it's better and safer to stay where you are,'" Farid Abdulkadir,
the organisation's chief in Sudan, told Focus on Africa.

The death toll caused by the fighting is unclear, but the Central Committee of
Sudanese Doctors (CCSD) said on Tuesday that at least 174 civilians had been
killed in the violence.

Image source, Getty Images

In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, the US, EU, UK and 12 other nations
said the death toll had reached 270.

However, experts say the real figure could be far higher, with many wounded
unable to reach hospitals which have reportedly been shelled.

Tanzeel Khan - an Indian national working in Khartoum - told the BBC that
airstrikes in the city were putting civilian lives at risk.

"Since this morning, the airstrikes in this area have intensified and we do not
know when they're going to hit our building," he said. "There are around 15
other people living in the same building who are facing similar difficulties."

A Russian woman trapped in a Greek Orthodox church in Khartoum said that her
situation was growing desperate, after her group ran out of power, food and
water.

She told the BBC that "urban electricity [was] cut off from the very beginning
of the fighting", but that a generator powering the church had run out of fuel.

The Norwegian Refugee Council - a humanitarian group that helps people displaced
by conflict - said "virtually all humanitarian work has been paralysed" in Sudan
and that it was impossible to provide assistance on the ground amid such heavy
fighting.

"You cannot operate when there is fighting all over the place, when it's unsafe
to drive on the roads, when the airport is closed," the organisation's head Jan
Egeland told the BBC.

"I'm talking about humanitarian organisations who have seen their warehouses
looted, their compounds invaded, their staff held at gunpoint. You know,
colleagues have been sexually abused. It's really, really very bad," he added.

Additional reporting by Chloe Kim




SUDAN: THE BASICS

 * Sudan is in north-east Africa and has a history of instability: The military
   toppled long-time leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019 after mass protests
 * It then overthrew a power-sharing government in 2021, putting two men at the
   helm: The head of the army and his deputy, who is also the head of a
   paramilitary group called the RSF
 * They disagree on how to restore civilian rule to Sudan: The RSF leader claims
   to represent marginalised groups against the country's elites but his forces
   were accused of ethnic cleansing




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RELATED TOPICS

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