Khartoum residents are seeking safer routes to leave the city, but closed bridges and insecurity in residential areas make it difficult for them. (Image: AP Photo)
Despite ongoing violence, some Khartoum residents are hesitant to leave their homes and belongings behind, fearing they will not be safe.
At least 400 people were killed and over 3,500 were wounded as the fight between Sudan army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the chief of powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Daglo entered day seven.
Fighting between both groups erupted last Saturday over issues of integrating the RSF into the military and now has turned into a power struggle with both parties seeking to gain control of the resource-rich African nation.
A report by news agency AFP pointed out that street fighting between the forces of two rival generals eased in parts of Sudan’s capital Khartoum by Friday evening. International agencies, global and regional leaders pushed both parties for an end-of-Ramadan ceasefire.
The army on Friday announced that they agreed to a three-day ceasefire to allow “citizens to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and allow the flow of humanitarian services”. Dagalo said he spoke to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and he remains focused on the “humanitarian truce, safe passages, and protecting humanitarian workers”.
Residents speaking to AFP said that there was a rare lull in the fighting Friday evening and the Sudan army complained that the RSF was violating the truce, including by “indiscriminately bombing” the airport and presidential palace.
Evacuations
Several nations, including India, are making plans to evacuate their citizens from Sudan. The US, South Korea and Japan are deploying forces to nearby countries and the EU is mulling whether to take the same path but on Friday the US State Department said the fighting had made Sudan too risky for an evacuation of embassy personnel from Khartoum.
The Pentagon mobilised in the east Africa region to bring out US staff from Khartoum. The RSF agreed to “partially” open “all airports” in Sudan but it remains unclear which airports they control.
Some residents of Khartoum lamented that they are unable to leave the city and meet with their near and dear ones to celebrate Eid. “Eid is meant to be spent with sweets and pastries, with happy children, and people greeting relatives. Instead, there has been gunfire and the stench of blood all around us,” Khartoum resident Sami al-Nour told AFP.
Many people are seeking safer routes of exit but the closed bridges across the River Nile between Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri.
“There were no buses, people were walking on foot, with their bags and moving. There were cars passing, but they were all private cars and all of them were full,” Ahmed Mubarak was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters. The Khartoum resident grew anxious after the fights erupted and left Khartoum taking with him only the clothes he was wearing.
Residents of Khartoum are leaving the city through Gezira State to the south or River Nile State to the north. Reuters reported that Khartoum residents were seen wheeling suitcases along the streets or balancing bags on their heads as they start their journeys.
Some residents, who spoke to Reuters, said that they fear their belongings and homes will not be safe if they leave Khartoum for safer areas. Some residents also said that some RSF units have embedded themselves in residential areas.
“The risk of leaving our house, leaving our belongings, is just way too hard to process,” Makram Waleed, a 25-year-old doctor, hoping to leave the capital but wary of the safety threats to his three younger sisters told Reuters.
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