A month into Sudan’s war, no end in sight

It is one month since fighting erupted in Sudan. 

The capital, Khartoum, and its estimated five million residents, are enduring shortages of food and basic supplies, and runaway inflation.

Fighting continued Monday morning, with loud explosions heard across the capital and thick smoke billowing in the sky while warplanes drew anti-aircraft fire.

Many had no choice but to flee the conflict. This displaced man is in Port Sudan waiting to be evacuated. 

“We are Sudanese, we come from Khartoum. We are suffering a lot. We are here for about 11 days without food, without water, even without basic needs, there is nothing. Even if you want to go to the toilet you find it is closed”, he lamented.

The fighting broke out on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“The situation is very difficult. The war is tough and the Rapid Support Forces are taking control of the country, it’s completely messed up. We came here because we want to be evacuated. We’re left on the street, in the sun, and families have been seeing us and no one is helping. We’re sitting near the grand hotel in Port Sudan. We want the organisations to evacuate us from Sudan, cause the country is totally devastated. There’s no food, no work… nothing”, lamentedHamden Mohammed, displaced person from Haj Yousif, East Nile province.

According to medics, around 1,000 people have been killed during the fighting, mainly in and around Khartoum as well as the ravaged West Darfur state.

“We just held a meeting with the United Nations, all the institutions of the United Nations are here in Port Sudan. We tried to discuss the situation for all the people that fled, both foreigners and Sudanese, and the situation in the city in general. We discussed the agricultural season and we agreed on supporting it so we don’t face food shortages next year”, said Sudanese Finance Minister, Gibril Ibrahim.

The fighting has deepened the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where one in three people already relied on humanitarian assistance before the war.