Fighting continues between the Sudanese armed forces led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitaries of the rapid support forces. The face to face is still uncertain as the two armies are engaged in a propaganda war. In Khartoum, the conflict has turned into urban guerrilla warfare. Despite the calls for de-escalation which are multiplying abroad, the two camps continue their fratricidal war. Without water or electricity in some neighborhoods, civilians live in the crossfire.
With our correspondent in Khartoum, Elliott Brachet
The exchanges of fire are continuous in the city despite the announcement of a 3-hour humanitarian truce supposed to allow civilians to evacuate the combat zones. Amid the chaos, some residents ventured onto the streets to stock up on supplies from the few stalls still open.
Inside, people are jostling, some like Kamal had been without food for two days. “It’s beyond anything I could imagine. I am in shock. If the two parties do not negotiate, the country will fragment. Unfortunately, we expected it…”
Despite the risk of a stray bullet, men have spread a carpet on the ground to share iftar, the breaking of the fast in this holy month of Ramadan. ” It is a war between two armies, but it is the citizens who shed their blood. It’s unclear who will win, both forces are strong, but the civilians find themselves caught in the crossfire. These are difficult days, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring “.
The inhabitants of the district hasten to return home, night falls and the fighting redoubles in intensity.
We ask civilians to stay at home. In the hospital, we have dead and we also have many wounded, hit by bullets in different parts of the body: in the chest, abdomen, limbs and head. And I can tell you that there are even more deaths than we think, there are more, because injured people cannot reach the hospital. Here we only have civilians. Civilians from different parts of the city, there is no military among them.
The testimony of a doctor from Khartoum
Confusing situation
For now, it is still difficult today to identify the balance of power. Each side claims military successes. The FSR claim to hold the airport and the Presidential Palace, which the army denies, which ensures that it retains its HQ. The two claim to have taken over national television, which continues to broadcast patriotic songs all day long.
The shootings and the bombardments continued on Sunday in the streets of Khartoum. Although the two parties have agreed to open humanitarian corridors for three hours in the afternoon, the fighting has not slowed down, to the great regret of doctors who already counted more than 600 wounded on Sunday.
The World Food Program has meanwhile suspended its humanitarian aid, after the death of three of its employees. And Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN demanded that those responsible be “ brought to justice as soon as possible. The Arab League and the African Union each met urgently on Sunday. Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the AU commission, will travel to Sudan as soon as possible to “ commit the parties to a ceasefire. »