The University of Khartoum, a hotspot for the army and paramilitary groups – a student killed by a gunfire

The students at the University of Khartoum have been trapped inside campus buildings in Sudan’s capital city for more than three days.

Fierce fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group has spread across the nation since erupting Saturday – but the university area is a particular hotspot due to its proximity to the General Command of the Armed Forces, with warplanes hovering overhead and nearby buildings destroyed by fire.

One of 89 students, faculty members and staff who hunkered down inside the library said he was afraid that the country would turn into a battlefield.

Food and water are running low, but leaving is not an option – one student has already been killed by gunfire outside. Khalid Abdulmun’em had been trying to run to the library from a nearby building when he was struck, said Farouk.

The university confirmed Abdulmun’em’s death in a Facebook post, saying he had been shot in the campus’ surroundings. On Monday the university urged humanitarian organizations to help evacuated people on the campus.

The crisis in Khartoum and the United States is going nowhere: the UN, the Red Cross, and the U.S. ambassador to Sudan

The situation is very chaotic. There has been an increase in the intensity of fighting since Saturday with Khartoum and the region of Darfur witnessing the worst. We have five teams that are separated by bombardment and can’t move due to the heavy infantry actions in the city of Khartoum. Our main concern is access to health care for civilians and the security of our staff.

Both leaders blamed each other for inciting the fighting and breaking temporary ceasefires. Meanwhile, civilians are paying the price, with at least 180 people killed and 1,800 others injured, according to UN officials on Monday.

I can see the smoke from the buildings. And I can hear from my residence blasts, heavy gunfire from outside. The streets are totally empty,” said Red Cross staffer Germain Mwehu from Khartoum.

Mwehu said that he saw families with children crying in the building where he lived and that people had little to no access to food or medicine.

Children are among those killed; a 6-year-old child died on Monday after the RSF shelled a hospital in Khartoum and damaged a maternity ward. Medics were forced to evacuate, leaving patients behind – some just newborns in incubators.

There was a convoy of American diplomatic vehicles that was fired on yesterday. According to the press conference on Tuesday, all of our people are safe, but this action was reckless and irresponsible.

The EU ambassador to Sudan was also beaten in his residency on Monday but is doing fine according to a spokesman for the EU’s top diplomat.

UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sudan told CNN on Monday that the conflict between Sudan and its warring partners had violated the cease-fire

The turn of events has worsened a crisis in a nation where one-third of its 45 million people were already in need of food aid. Now, the violence has forced aid groups to suspend operations. The United Nations World Food Program says three of its workers were killed.

The RSF had tried to abide by the cessation of hostilities but they kept firing which left no choice but to fire back, claimed the RSF.

“The secretary expressed his grave concern about the death and injury of so many Sudanese civilians due to the sustained, indiscriminate fighting, and stressed the responsibility of the two generals to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians, diplomatic personnel, and humanitarian workers,” Mr. Patel said.

In his own statement, Dagalo said the RSF “will have another call” to continue dialogue. Burhan talked to Blinken about the critical situation in Sudan.

In a joint statement from Japan, the G7 nations called on the warring sides to cease hostilities immediately.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sudan requested that the two warring parties hold the fire and protect UN offices, humanitarian and medical facilities, in order to convince them to come to an agreement.

When CNN spoke to Burhan on Monday afternoon, the sound of gunshots rang out in the background despite the supposed ceasefire – and Burhan claimed Dagalo had violated it for the second day.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Hospitals trying to tend to the wounded were no longer safe because of the power struggle in Sudan between two rival generals.

The morning started with shelling at a medical center. Then, members of a paramilitary force barged inside, ordered newborns and other patients to be evacuated, and began taking up positions, one doctor said.

“The hospital turned into a battlefield,” said the doctor, Musab Khojali, an emergency room physician at the Police Hospital in Burri, northeast of the capital, Khartoum.

Egypt has troops in Libya, as well as others in the region such as Chad and Ethiopia, which may be affected by the fighting. Russia is trying to get in touch with Sudan and there are members of the Kremlin-affiliated military company posted there.

A cease-fire was called by leaders from all over the world, but it was not clear who was in control of Sudan.

The Emergency Emergency Aid Officer in Sudan was Shot in Khartoum, as Revised by the U.N. Secretary of State Volker Perthes

“Everyone is afraid,” said Ahmed Abuhurira, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer who went out to try to charge his cellphone. It’s visible in their eyes. People are panicking.”

The fighting began on Saturday with forces loyal to the commander of the Sudan army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Only the army has aircraft, and on Monday, General Hamdan accused his rival of “bombing civilians from the air.” The Sudanese Army said in a statement that it was “operating within the rules of conflict and international humanitarian law.”

And on Monday, the U.N. envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, said gunmen had been looting and burning warehouses holding critically needed aid, as well guesthouses and offices of agencies like the World Food Program and UNICEF.

António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said he had spoken with both warring generals and expressed deep concern. “The humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic,” he said.

The American secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, called for an immediate cease-fire, and spoke separately with General Hamdan and General al-Burhan to underscore “the urgency of reaching a cease-fire,” Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement.

General Hamdan said on Twitter that he was “honored to have a vital conversation” with Mr. Blinken and had discussed their “shared dedication to freedom, justice and democracy for our people.”

According to Mr. Perthes, the commanders of both military groups had made it known that they had no intention of ending the fighting. They are, however, receptive to the idea of a “pause” to allow humanitarian access, he said.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/18/world/sudan-khartoum-fighting-news/the-eus-top-humanitarian-aid-officer-in-sudan-was-shot-in-khartoum

The Darfur Hospital and Emergency Services in Sudan, as Indicated by the Geneva Convention on Security and Human Rights in the Dialogue of the Darfur Conflict

Although the toll on civilians has been most evident in Khartoum, aid workers say they are also concerned by the situation outside the capital, and especially in the western Darfur region.

Save the Children, an aid organization, said on Monday that looters had taken medical supplies for children, as well as a refrigerator, laptops and cars in a raid on one of its offices in Darfur. Arshad Malik is the Sudan director of the group.

“For the past three days,” he said in a statement, “people across Sudan have been gripped by fear, not knowing if it is safe to leave their homes, and now having to make the choice between facing that fear and starving to death.”

The hospital is rapidly running out of supplies to treat survivors. It is in need of blood and medicines. The power has been out in the city since the beginning of the fighting and the hospital generator is running low.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces were identified by their uniforms as the group that was responsible for the attack, several officials said.

“This constitutes a gross violation of the Vienna Convention,” Josep Borrell Fontelles, the top diplomat for the bloc, said on Twitter. “Security of diplomatic premises and staff is a primary responsibility of Sudanese authorities and an obligation under international law.”

The fight against a military-backed regime in Sudan during the 2019 presidential election: the situation in Omdurman and Nyala, the capital

Observers were paying close attention to Egypt because of the concern that the conflict may put other countries at risk.

Since 2019, when pro-democracy protesters forced Sudan’s autocratic president to step down, Egypt has been eager to keep a civilian-led democracy from taking root on its southern doorstep, analysts have said. Ruled by a military-backed government that came to power after its own antigovernment uprising in 2011, Egypt has sought to replicate similar leadership in Sudan.

Egyptian officials believe a strongman like General al-Burhan is the only way to keep their neighbor stable and off a path of democracy that could inspire Egyptians.

The fighting has made transit in and out of the country difficult. At the main airport in Khartoum, airplanes were targeted again on Monday as the rival military factions fought for control over critical infrastructure.

The New York Times, using satellite imagery, has identified 20 planes that have been destroyed or badly damaged at the airport since the conflict erupted.

The residents of Omdurman said the situation was calm with people coming out of their homes and traffic gradually building in some shopping areas. Many households didn’t have water or electricity.

Many residents in the capital stayed at home. The electrical engineer went out to charge his phone and didn’t see any other people for half an hour.

Many people are trapped in their homes and humanitarian workers are unable to deliver supplies in the capital because of the fighting.

The fighting erupted suddenly early Saturday morning, so it was a shock and surprise for everyone. Nobody had time to stock up for an extended period. Supplies have been wiped out on the fourth day. It is difficult to get medicine. Food was partially available in the first two days but all the stocks in markets and small shops have finished without being able to be replenished. If this keeps happening, we will have food shortages and more people will attempt to leave the city for the villages.

One of our warehouses was looted, and the premises in Nyala were also taken from. This structure is protected for humanitarian purposes and there is no reason to target it.

The fighting in town has been so terrible since the stray bullets went through the roofs of the city for a few days, as many families hide under smoke

In my office we have electricity, but stray bullets have hit the water pipes. Other parts of the city have had no electricity or water for four days. I saw people queuing for water yesterday, despite the risk of crossfire. The phone network is working. But without electricity people can’t charge phones. Even if you have a generator, it is difficult to refuel it as gas stations are not open. If this situation continues the suffering will increase.

Meanwhile we have heard reports about attacks on diplomats, as well as videos of shelling and stray bullets going through people’s houses. The fighting has been loud since Saturday. While I’m talking to you, I am hearing anti-aircraft fire.

A mother shot in the street while crouching to protect her child. A toddler trapped in a building that’s been shelled, separated from her mother. A family is under a bed, hiding from the sound of shelling and gunfire.

“The kids are very scared and the house is shaking and they’re crying because they’re so scared” she says in a voice that is raw from breathing in smoke.

It’s not possible for people to see their family members who are separated, so they are stuck in their homes. One woman that she knew had tried to move from one location to a safer place with her children was shot and killed by the RSF.

“On Saturday, everyone was kind of caught unawares,” he says. It’s similar to warfare one might expect in a battlefield, but it’s happening in the heart of town. And the problem is for a lot of people that no one is really sure how long this is going to take — and that uncertainty is driving people’s anxieties and fears.”

Sudan’s pro-democracy resistance committee is fighting a coup with Janjaweed militia – a young art curator tells NPR

A young art curator, who is pregnant and trapped inside a house with her sister and nephew, tells NPR They are about to run out of food.

“Right now the fight has come to my neighborhood,” she says. Two minutes from my house there were three people killed, we’re very scared and we’re in a really bad situation with supplies.

A member of one of Sudan’s grassroots pro-democracy resistance committees is 30 years old. She was involved in the peaceful people power revolution that brought down the ruler of the country, who was an indicted war criminal. She continues her activism in the hope of seeing a democratic Sudan.

That dream has been repeatedly hijacked by military forces. The Sudan army and R SF are at war, and there is a coup going on. The RSF was created by Bashir when he was still in charge of the Janjaweed militia, which was responsible for abuses in the Sudan.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/19/1170838123/sudan-khartoum-fighting

“Our voices are here” — A campaign to remind people that bullets are louder than the voices of the people in Buenos Aires

We painted graffiti on the street to remind people that our voices are here. We are trying to make it through, because the bullets are usually louder than the people’s voices.