Residents flee Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, littered with corpses from the fighting

Thousands of people have fled this Wednesday from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where according to witnesses there are corpses in the streetin the fifth day of fighting between the army and the paramilitaries. Fighting in Khartoum and other parts of the country They have killed more than 270 civilians, according to a “preliminary” balance of fifteen Western embassies.

Foreign governments began planning for the evacuation of thousands of expatriates, including UN officials. Foreign diplomats have been attacked and the United Nations has denounced “looting, assaults and sexual violence against aid workers”.

This is reported by the minister of defense of neighboring Chad 320 Sudanese soldiers even crossed the border on Sunday to flee the fierce clashes. “There are 320 elements of the Sudanese army, gendarmes, police and army, who fear being killed by the Rapid Support Forces who surrendered to our forces,” General Daoud Yaya Brahim told AFP.

On Saturday, fighting broke out between the troops of two generals who seized power in a coup in 2021: the head of the army, Abdel Fatah al Burhan, and his then number two Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR).

the two soldiers oppose plans to integrate the FAR into the regular armyan important condition for the final agreement to resume the democratic transition in the country.

5 keys to understanding the violent clashes that have already left more than 100 dead and 1,000 injured in Sudan

look like on the street

Thousands of people fled the Sudanese capital, which has a population of five million. Some were in vehicles, others on foot, including women and children. The streets were littered with corpses with a strong smell of decomposition, according to testimonies.

“Life in Khartoum is impossible if this war is not stoppedAlawya al-Tayeb, 33, told AFP as he fled the capital. “I did the impossible so that my children wouldn’t see the bodies in the street,” he added.

Loud explosions and intense gunfire were heard in Khartoum and witnesses said thick black columns of smoke rose from the buildings surrounding the army headquarters., located in the center of the capital. FAR fighters toured the capital in vehicles carrying heavy weapons, while army fighter jets flew overhead and fired on paramilitaries, witnesses said.

Citizens staying at home are becoming increasingly desperate due to food shortages, power outages and lack of clean water. Some of them have been forced to leave in search of food and supplies as the intensity of the fighting subsides. Their hopes of evacuation were dashed on Tuesday when a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire was called off just minutes after its scheduled start.

The FAR unilaterally announced a “24-hour ceasefire from 1600 GMT” on Wednesday, but there is little hope that this will happen.

derailed transition

After five days of fighting, it remains impossible to know who controls which parts of the capital. However, satellite images show the extent of the damage, visible from the headquarters of the Army General Staff.

“Neither side seems to be winning at the moment, and taking into account the intensity of the fighting (…), things could get even worse before the two generals sit down at the negotiating table,” warns Clément Deshayes of the Université Paris 1 . .

This spiral of violence comes after more than 120 civilians have died in the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations over the past 18 months. Saturday’s outbreak of violence was the culmination of deep divisions between the military and the FAR created in 2013 by deposed autocratic leader Omar al Bashir.

Burhan and Daglo deposed Bashir together in April 2019 after the massive protests against his three decades of rule.

In October 2021, the two men led a coup against the civilian government installed after Bashir’s departure, ending a transition supported by the international community. Burhan, a professional soldier from northern Sudan, has said the coup was “necessary” to get other factions into politics.

But for Daglo, known as “Hemeti”, the coup was a “mistake” that brought about no change and instead supported those left behind from the Bashir regime.