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| ©A burned vehicle is seen in Khartoum, Sudan, April 26, 2023. REUTERS/El-Tayeb Siddig |
The Sudanese army and a paramilitary force battled on Khartoum's outskirts on Wednesday, undermining a truce in their 11-day conflict. The military expressed willingness to extend the ceasefire for another 72 hours and send an army envoy to the South Sudan capital, Juba, for talks. The presidents of South Sudan, Kenya, and Djibouti worked on a proposal extending the truce and discussions between the two forces.
The World Health Organization said only 16% of health facilities were functioning in Khartoum and predicted "many more deaths" due to disease and food shortages, water, and medical services. An estimated 50,000 acutely malnourished children have had treatment disrupted due to the conflict, and those hospitals still functioning are facing shortages of medical supplies, power, and water.
Deadly clashes broke out in Geneina in West Darfur on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in looting and civilian deaths and raising concerns about escalating ethnic tensions. The U.N. refugee agency estimates 270,000 people could flee into South Sudan and Chad alone.
Foreigners evacuated from Khartoum have described bodies littering streets, buildings on fire, residential areas turned into battlefields, and youths roaming with large knives. Omar al-Bashir, the 79-year-old former dictator toppled in 2019, had been transferred from Khartoum's Kober prison to a military hospital before hostilities started.
Over the weekend, thousands of inmates were freed outright from prison, including a former minister in Bashir's government who is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court.
The ICC in The Hague has accused President Omar al-Bashir of genocide and organizing militias to attack civilians in Darfur in 2003 and 2004. Bashir has been in prison, with spells in hospital, on Sudanese charges related to the 1989 coup that brought him to power.
The plan to transfer to civilian rule was derailed by the eruption of fighting between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Civilian groups have blamed groups loyal to Bashir for seeking conflict to find a way back to power.
The RSF, whose leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo rose to power under Bashir but later dumped him, has vehemently opposed the Islamists who backed the former army autocrat. The ICC declined to comment on the situation.
