KHARTOUM-Gunfire, explosions and overhead fighter jets were heard across Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Tuesday, as gunmen reportedly stormed the homes of people working for the United Nations and other international organizations, amid conflicting reports of an agreed ceasefire in the country.
Fighting between the country’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is in its fourth day in Khartoum both near the army command and the presidential palace, and close to two RSF bases to the north and west of the capital.
Residents remain trapped in the middle elsewhere in Sudan; 11 people were killed in the western region of North Darfur and dozens injured, including children, over the past 48 hours, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said. On Monday, UN officials said at least 180 people had been killed and 1,800 others injured. Armed personnel raided the homes of UN staff and employees of other international organizations in downtown Khartoum, according to reports in an internal UN document seen by CNN.
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According to the document, the gunmen sexually assaulted women and stole belongings including cars. “In Khartoum armed uniformed personnel, reportedly from RSF, are entering the residences of expats, separating men and women and taking them away,” reads the report. One incident of rape was also reported.
The RSF denied those reports, telling CNN in a statement that it “will never assault any UN staff or employees. RSF is very mindful of respecting international law.” The statement went on to blame the opposing side in the fighting, led by Sudan’s military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan: “That is the new desperate way of Burhan’s army of fighting. They supply their people RSF uniform clothing so they can commit crimes against civilians and embassies and other groups including the UN so the image and perspective of RSF can be damaged to everyone, international and local.”
Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) denied their troops were involved in the violations and pointed to a previous statement regarding crimes against humanity allegedly committed by RSF forces.
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Khartoum has been wracked by violence and chaos in a bloody tussle for power between Burhan, Sudan’s military chief, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who is head of the RSF.
The two leaders have traded blame for instigating the fighting and breaking temporary ceasefires.
Meanwhile, tense efforts to establish a ceasefire have ramped up despite confusion over whether one will be upheld.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for an “immediate cessation to hostilities in Sudan,” in a statement released Tuesday.
The statement says Türk “pleaded” with the rival forces to return to the negotiating table. Türk appealed to the clashing forces to consider the impact on the civilians living in Sudan who “only crave a peaceful life.”
For more than three days, students at the University of Khartoum have been trapped inside campus buildings as artillery and gunfire rain down around them in Sudan’s capital. “It is scary that our country will turn into a battlefield overnight,” said 23-year-old Al-Muzaffar Farouk, one of 89 students, faculty members and staff sheltering inside the university library.
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Food and water are running low, but leaving is not an option – one student has already been killed by gunfire outside. Khalid Abdulmun’em had been trying to run to the library from a nearby building when he was struck, said Farouk.
The students retrieved his body and brought it inside “despite the bullets that were falling on us,” he added.
The university confirmed Abdulmun’em’s death in a Facebook post, saying he had been shot in the campus’ surroundings. In a separate post on Monday, the university urged humanitarian organizations to help evacuate dozens of people stranded on campus.
Eyewitnesses described the scenes across the Sudanese capital.
“I can see outside smoke rising from buildings. And I can hear from my residence blasts, heavy gunfire from outside. The streets are totally empty,” said Red Cross staffer Germain Mwehu from Khartoum.
“In the building where I stay, I saw families with children, children crying when there are airstrikes, children horrified,” Mwehu said, adding that people had little to no access to food or medicine given the fierce fighting outside.
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Children are among those killed; a 6-year-old child died on Monday after the RSF shelled a hospital in Khartoum and damaged a maternity ward. Medics were forced to evacuate, leaving patients behind – some just newborns in incubators.
At least half a dozen hospitals have been struck by both warring sides, according to Sudan’s Doctors Trade Union.