Sudan residents trapped in their basements as fighting intensifies: ‘They are attacking indiscriminately’

Many face dwindling supplies – while hospitals are being bombed, looted and occupied

Destroyed market stalls in a commercial area of northern Khartoum (Planet Labs PBC)

Trapped residents of Khartoum are hiding in their basements with dwindling supplies while hospitals are being bombed, looted and occupied, with fighting between the forces of Sudan’s two top generals having intensified.

A 24-hour, internationally-brokered truce collapsed within hours of being implemented on Tuesday, although both sides claimed they would follow another one-day ceasefire from Wednesday evening.

At least 270 people have been killed since Saturday when clashes erupted between the Sudanese military and rival parliamentary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for control of the country.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that hospitals, medical personnel and ambulances had been hijacked and attacked while facilities had been bombed.

On Tuesday, bitter rivals, army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and the head of the RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – known as “Hemedti” – promised to respect a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire brokered by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.

The international community had hoped it would allow civilians trapped in the fiercest points of the fighting to evacuate, hospitals to treat the wounded and families to get food and water supplies.

But civilians told The Independent the truce collapsed almost immediately after it started and instead, the fighting had worsened.

“I have been staying in the basement since 5am this morning. Today is the most aggressive and heaviest bombing,” Mohamed Amin, a Sudanese journalist told The Independent from where he was sheltering. He sent a video showing the constant heartbeat of shelling and explosions around his home.

“The airstrikes are very intense by the army and RSF is trying to counter with artillery shelling.”

“They are attacking indiscriminately. Some projectiles are falling on the houses of civilians. We see smoke in the air,” he added.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis while the WHO said that attacks on health personnel, facilities and ambulances were on the rise. In total 16 hospitals including nine in the capital Khartoum are believed to have ceased work due to the damage.

The WHO also said that ambulances had been hijacked despite patients and paramedics being on board, and health facilities had been looted.

Sudanese medics put out pleas via Sudanese social media. One communique said that two key hospitals in the capital had been seized by armed groups that were forcing medical personnel to treat their own men first rather than soldiers they claimed to be the enemy.

A mission by the German military to evacuate around 150 citizens had to be halted on Wednesday due to fighting in the capital Khartoum, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing unnamed sources.

Fighting erupted on Saturday as a tense rivalry reached breaking point between Hemedti and Burhan, who currently hold the two top positions in the country’s ruling Sovereign Council.

The powerful pair had initially joined forces in October 2021 to instigate a military coup, just two years after the toppling of long-term autocrat Omar Bashir by nationwide protests.

However, tensions had boiled over an internationally-backed political agreement to transition to civilian rule.

The long-awaited deal was supposed to be signed last month and would have seen the RSF’s integration into the regular military.