Khartoum clashes escalate, humanitarian situation worsens
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Heavy gunfire and explosions have rocked Khartoum and the western region of Darfur for over seven weeks now.
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Heavy smoke bellows above buildings in the vicinity of Khartoum's airport on April 15, 2023, amid clashes in the Sudanese capital (AFP)
Shelling rocked greater Khartoum on Friday as clashes between Sudan's warring generals escalated, despite US threats to impose sanctions allegedly on people responsible for prolonging violence in Sudan after the collapse of multiple ceasefires.
Witnesses reported "artillery fire" in eastern Khartoum and around the state television building in the capital's sister city Omdurman, just across the Nile.
Fighting between army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur for over seven weeks now, despite numerous attempts to broker a humanitarian truce.
The army declared it had deployed reinforcements from other parts of Sudan to participate in "operations in the Khartoum area."
The White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan disclosed, on Thursday, the US will impose visa restrictions and sanction "those behind the violence in Sudan."
In a statement, Sullivan disclosed that the US is "following through by levying economic sanctions, imposing visa restrictions against actors who are perpetuating the violence and releasing an updated Business Advisory on Sudan. These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan."
US sanctions are ineffective
Washington declared on Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will next week head to Saudi Arabia where he will tackle "strategic cooperation on regional and global issues."
Analysts dispute the effectiveness of sanctions on Sudan's rival generals, both of whom earned significant riches under the reign of Omar Al-Bashir, whose regime was subjected to decades of international sanctions before his downfall in 2019.
After the army declared it was quitting the ceasefire talks on Wednesday, troops targeted key RSF bases in Khartoum.
According to a committee of human rights attorneys, an army shelling targeted a Khartoum market, killing 18 people and injuring 106.
Since battles began on April 15, more than 1,800 people have been killed, as per the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
The UN says 1.2 million people have been displaced within Sudan and more than 425,000 have fled to neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the situation is worsening in Darfur, where those fleeing the violence reported to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) of "armed men shooting at people trying to flee, villages being looted and the wounded dying" without access to medical care, the aid group said Friday.
This is happening as humanitarian agencies have constantly warned of the rainy season set to start this month, when the already dire conditions "will worsen and rivers will flood, complicating movement and supplies," said MSF's emergency coordinator Christophe Garnier.
Read next: Sudan: A borderless conflict
