Civilians killed in crossfire in Sudan’s second city

As shells rained down on her neighbourhood in Sudan’s Nyala city on August 23, Mahla Adam decided to run home instead of sheltering under a nearby bridge as she and many others did in countless clashes.

But this time, a projectile hit next to the bridge, and when she returned she said she counted dozens of bodies torn apart by shrapnel — many of them neighbours, friends and relatives. Most of them were women.            

The intensity of the fighting in Nyala shows how the conflict that engulfed the capital nearly five months ago has spread. Nyala, in the South Darfur State, is the biggest city in Sudan outside Khartoum. 

Fighting continued on Wednesday. Residents said they saw warplanes overhead. Medical volunteers said they had counted at least 10 people killed. Residents said the toll was more than 30.

With the collapse of Sudan’s health system and phone networks and government offices often out of service, casualty figures are hard to establish.

“Some families had two, three, five people killed, all at once,” said Adam, describing the impact of the August 23 strike that left 35 dead by her count. As fighting continued overhead, bodies were hurriedly buried in a mass grave, she said.

Aid agencies reported the August 23 incident. Save the Children, put the toll at 39.

Nyala residents say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) occupied most of the city, and the army tried to repel them with heavy artillery. 

That mirrors the war’s pattern in Khartoum, where hundreds of civilians have been killed. There have been several reports recently of mass casualties, including nearly 50 killed by an army strike on a market this week.

Nyala’s civilians have been caught in the crossfire. Satellite images from the Sudan Conflict Observatory, a US-based monitoring platform, show damage to public buildings including a market and hospital.

RSF soldiers and militiamen roam the streets. Residents say many buildings and homes were looted.

The strike happened as the army and RSF exchanged artillery fire. RSF soldiers were seen near the bridge. The RSF blamed the army for that attack when reached for comment, while the army did not respond.

The UN said at least 60 people were killed in Nyala in one week in August.

Idris Minnawi, an emergency aid group volunteer, said he thought thousands were killed in the city since the start of the war. 

Guarding their homes

Nyala’s population rose rapidly after the conflict that escalated in Darfur after 2003, forcing more than 2-million people from their homes. About 500,000 were in camps around the city before the latest fighting.

Since then, the UN estimates that more than 600,000 of South Darfur’s 5-million residents have been uprooted. More people have fled than in any other state except Khartoum.

“Most people left Nyala. The rest either don’t have enough money to leave, or say they’re guarding their homes,” said Zeinab Elsadig, 24, a resident who fled last month.

“We said the same until the shells fell on us and then we left.”

Like West Darfur where the war has sparked ethnic killings, South Darfur has been largely cut off from aid, say humanitarian workers.

Water and food are hard to come by as stores have been depleted, said Minnawi.

According to the IPC measure calculated by UN agencies and other groups, more than half the residents of South Darfur are at crisis or emergency levels of acute hunger. 

Only one hospital still functions. Its supplies have run out, say residents and aid groups.

After the strike, Adam said she and her neighbours used scarves, sheets and perfume for first aid. “My mother was pouring ash on our neighbour’s wound to stop the bleeding,” she said. Soon after, Adam and her family joined thousands of others leaving Nyala.

Reuters