SHELLING and heavy clashes hit areas of Sudan’s capital on Monday, residents said, with reports of spreading lawlessness in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur after more than seven weeks of conflict between rival military factions.
Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified after the expiry late on Saturday of a ceasefire deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
The war has uprooted more than 1.2 million people within Sudan and sent about 400,000 fleeing into neighbouring countries, inflicting heavy damage on the capital where the remaining residents are at the mercy of battles, air strikes and looting.
On Monday, residents reported a second consecutive day of fighting across the three cities that make up the nation’s wider capital – Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri. They said there had been rare ground clashes in Omdurman as well as shelling, and fighting in East Khartoum district and on the southern rim of the capital.
“The neighbourhood where we live in the centre of Omdurman is looted publicly on a daily basis without anyone intervening to prevent it, with clashes and shelling continuing around us,” said 37-year-old resident Mohamed Saleh.
In Khartoum East, RSF troops who have spread out in neighbourhoods across the capital were in full control and were looting extensively, said Waleed Adam, a resident of the area.
“You see them right in front of you, taking cars, money, gold – whatever they can get their hands on,” he told Reuters by phone. “I guess it’s just a matter of time until they come to my street.”
The RSF says it has been working to protect civilians by arresting looters.