Khartoum clashes expand and El Geneina turns into ghost town

Clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expanded yesterday in the capital, Khartoum, while the town of El Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur state, became a ghost town due to continuous fighting, according to eyewitnesses, Anadolu Agency reported.

Fierce clashes returned in Khartoum with heavy and light weapons and military aircraft.

The witnesses added that military aircraft bombed RSF fighters on Al-Ghaba Street in central Khartoum, and Omdurman, west of the capital, as well as in areas of the city of Bahri, north of the capital.

Clashes also broke out in the neighbourhoods of Al-Muzdalifah, Al-Maiqoma and Shari’ Wahid in the Haj Youssef area, east of the capital, in addition to the northern Bahri areas, specifically the Al-Halfaya, Al-Kadro and Al-Samrab neighbourhoods.

Witnesses also reported that clashes broke out in the vicinity of the Yarmouk munitions factory, Sports City and Al-Azhari and Al-Salma neighbourhoods, south of the capital.

The current escalation comes after a US- and Saudi-brokered humanitarian ceasefire that lasted  24 hours and came as part of a series of truces that have been reached since the beginning of the fighting between SAF and RSF in mid-April.

The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said in a statement yesterday that since 20 April, the city of El Geneina has witnessed successive attacks that have left hundreds dead and wounded, and thousands displaced from their homes.

READ: Sudan’s army chief says backs any solution to end conflict