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Photos: Sudanese capital devastated by a month of brutal fighting

Nearly a million have been displaced and more than 1,000 people killed as civilians bear the brunt of war that erupted last month.

A sudanese girl who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, and was previously internally displaced in Sudan
A Sudanese girl who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, and was previously internally displaced in Sudan, moves past makeshift shelters while taking refuge in Borota, Chad, near the Sudanese border. [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
Published On 16 May 2023

Sudanese capital Khartoum has been turned into a desolate war zone by a month of fierce fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Shaken families have been huddling at home, with civilian houses becoming the collateral damage in the gun battles raging on the streets between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the head of RSF, Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

Residents of Khartoum have endured weeks of desperate food shortages, power blackouts, communications outages and runaway inflation. Before the fighting erupted on April 15, the city of five million was considered a place of relative stability, but now shelling and air attacks are witnessed frequently.

Charred aircraft lie on the airport tarmac, foreign embassies are shuttered and hospitals, banks, shops and wheat silos have been ransacked by looters.

Violence also renewed in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, leaving hundreds killed and the health system in “total collapse”, medics said.

Fighting continued on Monday, with loud explosions heard across Khartoum and thick smoke in the sky while warplanes drew anti-aircraft fire, according to witnesses.

“The situation is becoming worse by the day,” said a 37-year-old resident of southern Khartoum who did not wish to be named because of safety concerns.

“People are getting more and more scared because the two sides … are becoming more and more violent.”

Another witness reported “clashes with various types of weapons” in Omdurman, the capital’s twin city.

Nearly a million people have been displaced by the conflict, many of them taking shelter in Port Sudan about 850 kilometres (500 miles) away.

The United Nations says more than 700,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting, and nearly 200,000 have fled Sudan for neighbouring countries.

There are fears for the stability of the wider region.

“We’re left on the street, in the sun,” complained Hamden Mohammed, who escaped the Khartoum area for Port Sudan. “We want the organisations to evacuate us from Sudan, because the country is totally devastated. There’s no food, no work … nothing.”

About 1,000 people have been killed, mainly in and around Khartoum as well as the ravaged state of West Darfur, according to medics.

People board a mini-bus as they evacuate southern Khartoum
People board a minibus as they evacuate southern Khartoum on May 14. A month since Sudan's conflict erupted, its capital is a desolate war zone where terrorised families huddle in their homes, enduring desperate shortages of food and basic supplies, power blackouts, cash shortages and runaway inflation, as gun battles rage in the dusty, deserted streets outside. [AFP]
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Sudanese people rest at a camp center next to Coral Garden Hotel as they call for evacuation to safe countries
Sudanese people rest at a camp centre beside the Coral Garden Hotel as they call for evacuation to safe countries, following the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum, in Port Sudan. [Ibrahim Mohammed Ishak/Reuters]
Sudanese drivers rest by their buses after transporting evacuees from Sudan into Egypt, in Wadi Karkar village near Aswan
Sudanese drivers rest by their buses after transporting evacuees from Sudan into Egypt, in Wadi Karkar village near Aswan. [Khaled Desouki/AFP]
Refugees who crossed from Sudan to Ethiopia put their belongings on the ground for a security check in Metema
Refugees who crossed from Sudan to Ethiopia put their belongings on the ground for a security check in Metema. [Amanuel Sileshi / AFP]
People line up at a gasoline station in Khartoum, Sudan
People queue at a petrol station in Khartoum, Sudan, as gunfire and heavy artillery fire continued, despite the extension of a ceasefire between the country's two top generals. The battle for power between the country's army and its rival paramilitary has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
Nyarok Gach, who fled Sudan after fighting erupted and returned to her home village in South Sudan
Nyarok Gach, who fled Sudan after fighting erupted and returned to her home village in South Sudan earlier this month, sits on the ground with other residents of Wunlueth village in Canal-Pigi county, South Sudan. More than 40,000 people, mostly South Sudanese, have crossed the border into South Sudan since Sudan erupted in conflict nearly one month ago, yet many are returning to areas unable to support them and still racked with fighting. [Sam Mednick/AP Photo]
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Passengers fleeing war-torn Sudan arrive at Qastal land port crossing between Egypt and Sudan
Passengers fleeing war-torn Sudan arrive at Qastal land port crossing between Egypt and Sudan. [Khaled Desouki/AFP]
A woman embraces her relative upon arrival at the Sanaa International Airport in Sanna
A woman embraces a relative upon arrival at the Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on May 14, 2023, after being evacuated from Sudan. Hundreds of people have been killed and nearly a million displaced in a power struggle between the army and a rival paramilitary force, 18 months after a military coup derailed Sudan's transition to civilian rule. [Mohammed Huwais/AFP]
A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan
A man walks by a house destroyed in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. [Marwan Ali/AP Photo]
Workers register refugees who crossed from Sudan to Ethiopia at the IOM
More than 15,000 people have fled Sudan via Metema since fighting broke out in Khartoum in mid-April, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration, with around a thousand arrivals registered per day on average. [Amanuel Sileshi / AFP]
A South-Sudanese woman who fled fighting in Sudan lies on the ground with her child under a tree after returning to Malakal town, which is hosting thousands who returned, in Upper Nile state, South Sudan
A South Sudanese woman who fled fighting in Sudan lies on the ground with her child under a tree after returning to Malakal town, which is hosting thousands who returned, in Upper Nile state, South Sudan. [Sam Mednick/AP Photo]