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General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s army and General Hemedti’s paramilitaries continue to fight in Khartoum on April 21, 2023, which marks the end of Ramadan, despite a ceasefire being declared the day before. These clashes, which broke out in mid-April in Sudan, have already left more than 400 dead and more than 3,500 injured, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
With our special envoy to Khartoum, Eliott Brachet
In Sudan, on the day of Eid al-Fitr (end of fasting), which marks the end of Ramadan, the fighting has not stopped despite the announcement of another ceasefire on April 20, 2023. The streets are deserted . You only see soldiers, deployed at the crossroads, at the corners of the houses.
On this Muslim festival, the muezzin has not even been able to call the faithful to prayer. The regular army aviation continues its attacks against the positions of the Rapid Support Paramilitary Forces (FAR) in the center of the city. They respond by dispersing them in residential areas.
change of strategy
This morning there seems to be a change in strategy on the part of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF): ground infantry troops have been deployed from the north and visibly in the south of the city.
Frequent exchanges of fire take place. Columns of soldiers have been seen combing the city blocks.
The day before, General Hemedti, head of the RSF, was open to a ceasefire. But General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the SAF, who appeared on television, appears to have refused.
No sign of appeasement, therefore. Right now, with electric batteries running low and communications difficult, it’s almost impossible to keep up with what’s happening in the rest of the country.
flight of civilians
In the capital, many families run out of their last supplies and do not have electricity or running water. Phone lines only work intermittently. Many try to flee between checkpoints on both sides and corpses strewn on the streets.
Many civilians have also fled abroad to escape the violence, mainly concentrated in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur.
Between 10,000 and 20,000 people, most of them women and children, crossed the border into Chad, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
