The UN’s senior relief official was in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for ceasefire talks between Sudan’s warring generals, as concern for the humanitarian crisis rises as the Sudanese capital enters its fourth week of gun fights and air strikes.
Since violence erupted between army and paramilitary forces on April 15 in the impoverished country with a history of political instability, multiple truces have been called with no effect.
Since then, fierce fighting has killed hundreds of people, the majority of whom were civilians, injured others, and prompted numerous warnings of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation.
Already, almost 100,000 individuals have departed the country.
Ahmed al-Amin, a resident of Khartoum’s northeastern Haj Yousif district, told AFP on Sunday that he “saw fighter jets flying above our heads and heard the sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft” fire.
Across the Red Sea, in the Saudi city of Jeddah, talks were ongoing to reach an agreement that would allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to the beleaguered populace
Those unable to flee face dire shortages of water, food, medicines and other staples.
Even before the war began about one-third of Sudan’s people required humanitarian assistance, the UN said.
The fighting has seen aid workers killed, health facilities attacked, and the UN projects that the number of “acutely food insecure people” in Sudan could increase by between two and 2.5 million if the war is prolonged.
Analysts expect that it will be.
