Fighting between the two most powerful figures in Sudan’s military government has already left hundreds of civilians dead and many more injured or homeless. Now the fear is that their two rival armies will level the city
Since April 15th, the city has been the centre of a battle between the two most powerful figures in Sudan’s military government. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country’s de facto leader since a coup in 2019, leads the army. Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo, a warlord, heads the Rapid Support Forces , a paramilitary unit that grew out of the Janjaweed militias accused of genocidal acts in Darfur in the mid-2000s.
In the days before the ceasefire—the fourth so far—almost all foreign diplomats were evacuated. American special forces in Chinook helicopters rescued 100 embassy staff in less than an hour on April 22nd. Britain’s Royal Air Force followed suit the next day. On April 24th a convoy of more than 750officials and aid-workers arrived safely in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. Earlier a French diplomatic convoy had been attacked, and a Qatari one looted, on the same route.
Thousands of Sudanese civilians have also escaped. Some have gone by bus to neighbouring countries such as Egypt, where large numbers are now gathered at the border. Others have fled to the countryside around Khartoum. Hamid Khalafallah, a political analyst, chose to stay in the capital with his family. But he reckons about a third or more of the population may already have abandoned the city. Those who remain risk death “by bullets or by hunger”, says one fearful resident.
Amid the gloom there are faint glimmers of hope. In el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, religious leaders and local activists brokered a truce between the army and theunits fighting there. During the most recent ceasefire in Khartoum the fighting died down for a while. On April 22nd, a weary-sounding General Burhan suggested the two sides sit and talk. But it is hard to believe he is serious.
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