Civilians attacked in Darfur region as Sudan fighting escalates

Across the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the sound of gunfire echoed through the streets throughout Sunday and airstrikes hit its twin city Omdurman.

A Jordanian public broadcaster showed images of the towering Sudanese central bank ablaze.

Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said he and his Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries would agree to talk only once a full ceasefire was respected.

Amid a communications blackout from much of Darfur, which is 500 miles west of Khartoum, evidence slowly emerged of widespread destruction, amid fears that fighting in the capital could enflame longstanding tensions in the region.

Fighting between SAF and RSF militias broke out in two areas of Darfur during fierce battles in the capital earlier this month. A major hospital in North Darfur sustained damage and UN offices in two cities reported looting and destruction.

Community leaders in Darfur attempted to keep the peace on the ground despite increasing violence by local militias, sometimes with links to Khartoum.

Observers described increasing use of heavy weaponry by both the RSF and forces aligned to the SAF amid fears that other local militias across Darfur were arming themselves.

Sporadic violence continued in al-Geneina in West Darfur close to the border with Chad, where schools, hospitals, public buildings and camps for those internally displaced were reduced to little more than burnt-out shells.

Some in al-Geneina, including former medical workers, estimated that up to 250 people had been killed in recent violence.

He told the Guardian that tribal militias had arrived from outside West Darfur to provide backing for the RSF, adding that internally displaced people had stormed a police station in order to take weapons and fight back after they were attacked.

Residents said that no hospitals or clinics were currently functioning in the town due to previous fighting, and that a doctor had been killed.

UNHCR said that at least 20,000 people had fled West Darfur and crossed into Chad, and that thousands more were expected to cross in the coming days.

The rise of the RSF and Hemedti is intimately linked to violence in Darfur under the reign of former dictator Omar Al Bashir, currently wanted by the international criminal court for perpetrating crimes against humanity and genocide in the region.

Bashir employed Hemedti and his militia, formerly known as the Janjaweed, to crush any potential revolt in the region using extreme violence.

Osman said the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from the African Union and United Nations in the Darfur region two years ago meant that civilians were often left to fend for themselves as militias resupplied and increased recruiting.

Harward said that civilians remained vulnerable amid ongoing fighting in West Darfur.