Terrified Sudanese who have been trapped for days in their homes by fighting in the capital of Khartoum fled on Wednesday, hauling out whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, as the military and its paramilitary rival made a new attempt at a 24-hour ceasefire after a failed truce the day before.
The new ceasefire attempt came as alarm was growing that millions of Sudanese were on the brink of disaster from the past five days of warfare between the country’s two most powerful generals. Desperate residents of the capital have been running out of food and other supplies as they sheltered in their homes from the gun battles, bombardment, and airstrikes on the streets outside. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past five days, the UN health agency said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.
On Wednesday evening, the army and its rivals, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), separately announced that a new 24-hour truce had begun. The conflict between the military and the RSF has once again derailed Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after decades of dictatorship and civil war. Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses, and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists.
Read more here.
