Residents fear for their lives as food supplies dwindle and fighting rages into its fourth day – and more.
Rapid Support Force (RSF) are looting people’s homes in Khartoum – witness “RSF soldiers and other types of soldiers are trying to break into homes to loot and there (are) unconfirmed reports of sexual violence,” says gender justice and democracy campaigner, Hala Y. Alkarib.
“RSF are looting people’s homes in Khartoum and RSF soldiers and other types of soldiers are trying to break into homes to loot and there (are) unconfirmed reports of sexual violence,” says gender justice and democracy campaigner, Hala Y Alkarib, who’s been collecting testimony from friends and colleagues across the capital city, Khartoum.
She told BBC Newsday that she and others believe the RSF lacks a supply chain and is therefore relying on looting. There is nobody to protect the people, she says, “because the Sudanese military and Sudanese police – both of them former partners of the RSF – are not quite oriented to provide or extend protections to civilians”.
With shops shut and power supplies intermittent at best, she says Khartoum’s inhabitants are at high risk – because many on the outskirts rely”100 per cent on the informal economy” and people living in the centre used to have to leave the city to be able to put food on the table but now can’t.
“There were many fighter jets and you can hear rapid artillery fire.” Eyewitness, Lakshmi Parthasarathy, describes life under fire in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, and saying the fighting “is not dying down… it sounds like its escalating.”
Fighting is continuing in Sudan between the regular armed forces and a powerful paramilitary force. They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule. There had been some hope that talks could resolve the situation but these never happened.
It is not exactly clear where the RSF bases are, but it seems that their fighters have moved into densely populated areas. There was a brief pause in the fighting on Sunday, agreed by both sides, to allow people to escape the fighting. -BBC
