In once peaceful Khartoum, civilians flee but still suffer the most in war

April 20th. On day 6 of the war between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group RSF, the residents of Khartoum, visitors and expats of several nationalities are exhausted and still struggling to find an end to the war. Despite four yes, four ceasefires being called from Monday by the concerned countries of Egypt, Saudi, UAE, Qatar, China, Russia, the United States, Germany (a rarity for these often political clashing countries to agree), the urban warfare visited upon Khartoum and its residents still ongoing. The intensity has ebbed somewhat and city residents have been able with the lull in some parts of the city to evacuate and flee the city on their own going to North to River Nile state which is peaceful or South to Gezira state. Some of the residents hail from these states. There are many families with children also fleeing. They have equally been traumatized by the bombing. Other residents are staying in place for now. Several apartment blocks, private homes and hospitals have been hit by Shrapnel and missiles from both the RSF and Sudanese Army. Some 320+ people have died since Saturday April 15 and over 1,500 have been injured. The civilians continue to caught in the middle. The fighting continues during the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims worldwide are not only fasting but are in deep reflection and introspection to become better versions of themselves. The war in Khartoum and outside of the capital in and fighting has been condemned by MSF, local Sudanese medical groups and organizations, the UN, the Arab League, the African Union and the wider world who have sympathized with the Sudanese people on the ground. Sudan is a strategically located country between the Middle East, North and East Africa and has been of interests to the mentioned countries for decades. UN secretary general Antonio Gutteres is appealing for the upcoming Eid holiday to aid in a long standing ceasefire and lead to negotiations. So does Khartoum’s millions of residents. The medical groups and humanitarian organizations have called on both sides to at least allow humanitarian corridor to transport the sick and injured to hospitals. The dead need to be collected from the streets. Europe is also worried that the ongoing fighting could lead to a new refugee wave as Sudan still has a lot of internally displaced people in its Darfur region and refugees from neighboring Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Remember that Khartoum is a modern and densely populated city with a population around 8 million people. Sudan’s major international airport is located in the city center surrounded by apartment blocks as everyone can see in travel videos, images and in news reports. Normally, Khartoum is a busy city with the residents and visitors living their lives and going about their business. There is also a construction boom going on around Khartoum and its sister cities of Omdurman and Khartoum Bahri brought on by local and international investments. More offices and apartment blocks were being built. Until April 15, Khartoum existed just as any city in the world. Even with intercommunal violence and conflicts occurring hundreds of miles away from Khartoum, the city was relatively safe and was even starting to get the attention of travel vloggers and visitors combing Sudan in their trips to Egypt. Local tour guides and groups were working on showing global and local travelers a different and positive side to Sudan. The ongoing war between the Sudanese Army and RSF interrupted the normal flow of city life. To put it in perspective, It would be as if urban warfare came to Cairo or if the US army and a rogue militia group began clashing and bombing each other in New York City and hit JFK airport. Yes, Sudan is going through serious economic problems too with high inflation, rising prices of commodities, high cost of living and even electricity shortages across the country.

Al Jazeera English correspendant Hiba Morgan reporting from Khartoum 4 days ago when the fighting first broke out. She has been reporting on the ground nonstop and feels a deep sympathy and empathy with Sudanese citizen. Morgan has been reporting from Khartoum and across Sudan for more than 10 years.

Most of the city’s hospitals are closed or running limited services for people living in neighborhoods fortunate enough to still have a clinic or hospital running. The city is under a water and electricity shortage. The ordinary Sudanese do not deserve this urban war. It does not matter who started the war or how it happened but it must end for the city residents to live in peace and security again instead of being caught in an unending loop of power struggle taken to the physical violence. Just last week, ordinary Sudanese were on the street protesting nonstop for civilian rule and for the military Junta led by Abdelfatteh El Burhan to leave office immediately. A civilian government in Khartoum was long overdue and ordinary Sudanese were constantly and are still demanding that a civilian government come sooner rather than later to end the nightmarish and hellish fighting still going on across the city. Countries have been scrambling to find a lull in the fighting to evacuate their respective citizens out of Sudan and Khartoum in particular. Japan has started evacuating its citizens. Indian citizens are also being contacted by their embassy and Chinese embassy has told its citizens to shelf in place for the time being until they can be reached. Egypt was able to evacuate some twenty Egyptian soldiers who were training with their Sudanese military counterparts near the Merowe airbase in Northern Sudan when they too were caught up in the fighting between SAF and RSF. The Egyptian soldiers were evacuated after being handed off to Egyptian officials in Khartoum by the RSF. . The US military has moving troops to Djibouti to prepare to evacuate US citizens. Djibouti, the tiny Horn of African country (Sudan sits in North Africa and is a distant neighbor of it), is also part of the strategical waterway the Gulf of Aden and located on the Red Sea. Several years ago, the BRICS, UAE, US, Turkey, etc. had scurried to Djibouti when the government offered to host various military bases as a way to increase its own revenue. US and Europe have also been playing catchup with China and Russia as both countries have cemented and improved on their relationships, aided in building needed infrastructure and supported other long-term projects and China’s Belt and Road initiative with Sudan and other African countries. This will be expanded on in another post. The situation in Khartoum is still evolving hopefully in the right direction for the sake of the ordinary people caught in the chaos. Everyone is monitoring the events.