Looters have stolen medical supplies for children as well as a refrigerator, laptops and cars in a raid on Save the Children’s offices in Darfur as Sudan succumbs to its third day of intensified fighting with the capital Khartoum paralysed.
The violence has also forced Save the Children to temporarily suspend most of its operations across Sudan, the child rights organisation said, putting food, clean water, and other lifesaving aid out of reach for thousands in a country where 15.8 million people – one third of the population – are in need of humanitarian assistance
The aid group said it is particularly struggling to deliver its medical services in health facilities across North Darfur due to access and looting concerns, but is operating as much as possible where it is safe to do so.
Fighting across Sudan has reportedly killed nearly 100 civilians over the past three days, with hundreds more injured. It is not yet known if children are among the casualties.
Children and communities sheltering from the violence have now gone for three days without food or clean water and the theft of medical aid will further deprive children of vital supplies.
The suspension of aid delivery is putting children’s lives at risk in a country where some 12 million people – a quarter of the population – are already living with acute hunger, Save the Children said.
Arshad Malik, Country Director of Save the Children in Sudan, called on all parties to protect humanitarian infrastructure and supplies as this would only make it harder to provide assistance to families in most need.
He said: “For the past three days, people across Sudan have been gripped by fear, not knowing if it is safe to leave their homes, and are now having to make the choice between facing that fear and starving to death.
Civilians are caught in the middle of the conflict
Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Tigere Chagutah said: “The use of heavy weaponry including artillery, tanks and jet aircraft in densely populated areas in Khartoum has caused numerous civilian deaths and massive destruction of property. Civilians are caught in the middle of this conflict and are suffering. The parties to the conflict must immediately stop using explosive weapon with wide area effects in the vicinity of concentrations of civilians.
“Sudan’s authorities and all parties to the conflict must ensure that there is immediate, unrestricted and sustained access for humanitarian actors to monitor and assess the needs of civilians and to deliver assistance to them’’
RSF says accepts 24-hour truce
Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Tuesday announced that it accepted an international initiative for a truce to stop the clashes with the Sudanese army for 24 hours for humanitarian reasons, while the Sudanese army said it was not aware of the truce.
“A 24-hour truce has been accepted after communication with friendly countries and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken,” Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF commander, said on his Twitter account on Tuesday
The Sudanese army, meanwhile, said in a statement that it was “not aware of any coordination with the mediators and the international community about a truce, and the announcement by the rebellion of a 24-hour truce tends to cover up the crushing defeat it is about to receive within hours.”
The violent clashes renewed on Tuesday morning around the vicinity of the Sudanese army command and the presidential palace, Khartoum International Airport, and around some RSF bases south of the capital Khartoum, according to eyewitnesses.
Sudan has been witnessing armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the RSF in Khartoum and other areas outside the capital since April 15, with the two sides accusing each other of initiating the conflict.
The tension between the two military forces has escalated since Wednesday in the Merowe region in northern Sudan, after the RSF moved military vehicles to a location near the military air base there, a move that the army considered illegal.
Deep differences have emerged between the Sudanese army and the RSF, particularly regarding the latter’s integration into the army as stipulated in a framework agreement signed between military and civilian leaders on Dec. 5, 2022.
Diplomatic missions attacked
Meanwhile Sudan’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the Rapid Support Forces of attacking the headquarters of diplomatic missions in the capital Khartoum.
“The desperate moves by the rebel Rapid Support Forces with armored vehicles and heavy weapons among residential neighborhoods and civilian places have put the headquarters and staff of diplomatic missions and international and regional organizations under imminent danger,” the ministry said in a statement.
On Monday, an armored vehicle belonging to the U.S. embassy in Khartoum came under a hail of bullets, while the residence of the European Union ambassador to Sudan was also attacked.
