- Airstrike Kills 20 Civilians, Including Children, in Southern Khartoum
- Ongoing Conflict Between Sudanese Army and Paramilitary Fighters
- Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan as Millions Require Aid and Protection
Residents of Khartoum awakened to artillery and rocket fire on Sunday, hours after an airstrike in the city’s south, according to Sudanese activists, killed at least 20 civilians, including two children.
Twenty civilians have died as a result of the aerial bombardment in southern Khartoum, according to a statement by the neighborhood’s resistance committee.
They are one of several volunteer organizations that used to coordinate pro-democracy demonstrations and now aid families caught in the crossfire between the army and paramilitary fighters.
In a previous statement, they stated that the victims included two children and warned that additional deaths went unrecorded because “their bodies could not be transported to the hospital because they were severely burned or torn to pieces in the bombing.”
Since the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces went to war on April 15, an estimated 5,000 people have been slain, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
The Sudanese Armed Forces control the skies and have conducted regular air assaults, whereas RSF fighters control the streets of the capital.
Western nations have accused paramilitaries and allied militias of ethnically motivated murders in western Darfur, and the International Criminal Court has launched a new investigation into alleged war crimes.
Army wrongdoing includes a July 8 attack that killed almost two dozen civilians.
More than half of Sudan’s 48 million people now require humanitarian aid and protection, and six million are “one step away from famine”, according to the United Nations.
Despite insecurity, plundering, and bureaucratic hurdles, the international organization claims it has provided aid to millions of those in need. According to the United Nations, the conflict has displaced approximately 3,8 million people internally, while another million have fled to neighboring countries.
The International Organisation for Migration reports that nearly 2.8 million Khartoum residents are among the displaced. More than half of the capital’s pre-war population of approximately five million people. Those who remain take refuge from the crossfire and ration water and power.
In Khartoum, resistance committees have been among the only sources of aid, assisting in the excavation of survivors from bombed buildings, braving gunfire to deliver medicine, and documenting atrocities committed by both parties.
After nearly five months, there are no indications that the violence will abate. Sunday, witnesses reported that the army targeted RSF positions in the northern part of Khartoum with “artillery and rocket fire.”
In Khartoum, resistance committees have been among the only sources of aid, assisting in the excavation of survivors from bombed buildings, braving gunfire to deliver medicine, and documenting atrocities committed by both parties.
After nearly five months, there are no indications that the violence will abate.
Sunday, witnesses reported once more that the army was targeting RSF positions in northern Khartoum with “artillery and rocket fire.”
