Khartoum residents use ceasefire to flee embattled city

Khartoum resident Othman Said was feeling rested on Monday. He had not felt like that in weeks.

“I had not slept as much I did today and yesterday since the war began on April 15,” said Mr Said, who lives in the Al Thawra district of Omdurman, one of three cities that make up the greater Khartoum area around the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.

The other two cities are Khartoum and Bahri.

“Things are very quiet in Omdurman today. I also checked with my sister in Bahri. She said things were calm there, too,” he told The National.

It is the first time that Sudan's warring sides – the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – are heeding a truce. Previous ones were breached by both sides, allowing the fighting that turned the Sudanese capital into a war zone to continue unchecked.

The 72-hour ceasefire was mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia. It coincides with an international pledging conference for Sudan to be convened by the UN in Geneva later on Monday.

The UN prepared for the meeting in conjunction with several state partners. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is among those scheduled to address the gathering.

Donors were expected to “announce financial commitments to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis and reiterate the need for the parties to the conflict in Sudan to adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law”, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

“To date, this year's revised Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has received less than 16 per cent of the $2.57 billion required, while the Regional Refugee Response Plan for $470 million is just 17 per cent funded,” it said in a statement.

Sudan needed substantial humanitarian aid even before the war began, with its deeply troubled economy leaving millions unable to find or afford their basic needs. Now, the UN says about 25 million people in the vast Afro-Arab nation – more than half the population – are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The war has killed at least 3,000 and injured twice as many, according to the Health Ministry. It has forced more than 2.2 million to flee their homes in search of security. Of these, more than 500,000 sought refuge in neighbouring states, chiefly Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.

Mr Said, the Omdurman resident, said some of the stores were open in the local outdoor food market when he went shopping on Sunday, but he complained that prices were too high.

“There are not many shoppers, though, and the butcher's did not open for business. Some pharmacies are open but they have no antibiotics or medicine for diabetes,” he continued.

To Saydah Mahmoud, a schoolteacher from the Jabrah district in Khartoum, the lull in the fighting meant a chance to leave the city.

“This is the first time that we get some quiet. But we are leaving for Wad Medani [south of Khartoum] to stay with relatives. Homes, including ours, have been looted and we feel under siege. There is no guarantee what things will be like after this truce.

“We are tired. We have seen death come close, but we could not leave. Now, we must.”

Sudan's war began when army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his one-time ally and deputy Gen Mohamed Dagalo clashed in a bitter struggle for supremacy.

The war has to all practical purposes buried Sudan's hopes to transition to democratic rule four years after long-time dictator Omar Al Bashir was removed by a popular uprising after 29 years in power.

The two generals took part in removing Al Bashir in 2019 and in October 2021 jointly staged a coup that derailed Sudan's democratic transition and plunged the north-east African nation into its worst economic crisis in living memory, as well as creating a political impasse.

The current fighting has also spilt into the western Darfur region, where local activists say as many as 1,100 have died in violence in the West Darfur state capital of Al Geneina alone.

The International Organisation for Migration says at least 149,000 people have fled from Darfur into Chad and the US attributed the violence there “primarily” to the RSF. It said alleged rights violations were an “ominous reminder” of the region's previous genocide.

A years-long war in Darfur began in 2003 with a rebel uprising that prompted Al Bashir to unleash the Janjaweed militia, the forerunner of the RSF, on the rebels. The militia is known to have committed large-scale atrocities in Darfur at the time.

Al Bashir, in detention since 2019, was indicted by the International Criminal Court more than a decade ago of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.