Nearly 200 people have been killed in clashes between the regular army and paramilitary forces since Saturday. In Karthoum and Darfur, residents describe to franceinfo scenes of guerrilla warfare and looting.
Without water, electricity or supplies, the people of Khartoum are trapped in the fighting. Ayman stands worried, Monday, October 17, on the threshold of his building: “In the center of the city, many people are still stranded in buildings close to the army headquarters or the presidential palace. Since the first day some are stranded in banks, schools. The injured cannot reach hospitals”.
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“We are civilians trapped in the bottom of a trench. Everywhere, the Sudanese are going through terrible conditions.”
Ayman, resident of Khartoumat franceinfo
Nearly 200 people were killed in the clashes between the regular army and paramilitary forces since Saturday. In then the streets of the capital, the scene of an urban guerrilla warfare, several cases of looting and intrusions by militiamen into homes have been reported. At least five hospitals were hit by shells or artillery fire. On Monday evening, the European Union announced that its ambassador had been “attacked in his residence” in Khartoum.
“The people have chosen their side, Ayman sighs. Neither of these two generals will ever represent us. They are not heads of state, otherwise none of these bullets would have been fired, no citizen would have been injured, no soul would have been extinguished, they would have protected us. Let the armies return to their barracks and let the Rapid Support Forces be disbanded! This country should be ruled by civilians, not by the military.”
In Darfur, shortage of water, electricity and medicines
More than 1,000 kilometers away, in Nyala, the main city of Darfur, in southwestern Sudan, heavy weapon fighting is also taking place. Ahmed Gouja’s house shakes to the rhythm of the detonations. “We hear heavy gunfire at all hours of the day and night, says the director of the NGO Darfour Monitors on the phone. 100 meters from my house, one of my neighbors was shot in the back.”
“At least 22 civilians have been killed. Yet the civilians have nothing to do with any of this. They are not linked to either side.”
Ahmed Gouja, director of the NGO Darfur Monitorsat franceinfo
As in the capital, the chaos favors looting, explains Ahmed Gouja. Militias attack medical centers, markets, schools: “They took everything. Computers, cars, and even chairs. There is no more police, no more security”. Impossible for the 500,000 inhabitants of the city to get supplies. “My sister doesn’t have a liter of water in her house, he laments. There is no more electricity for lack of gasoline to run the generators. More medicine, more markets to buy food. If this conflict lasts we will suffer a lot.”.
Three World Food Program staff have been killed in Darfur and aid stocks looted. Ahmed Gouja sees the ghosts of the war, which began 20 years ago in the region, reappear.