Corpses litter the streets as cold weather and ongoing hostilities make removal nearly impossible. War, fear, and desperate civilians push toward escape routes from Khartoum as fighting intensifies. In just six days, multiple ceasefires aimed at humanitarian access were declared, only to be violated soon after. More than 400 people were killed when a Sudanese conflict erupted last Saturday, a warning that violence could spiral into a prolonged crisis.
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced a 72-hour ceasefire again on Friday. Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, passed without a decisive military outcome. Witnesses report that gunfire continues to weaken the city. In this fragile environment, several humanitarian organizations suspended operations in Sudan, including Save the Children.
Arshad Malik, the NGO’s Sudan director, urged all parties to protect humanitarian workers and aid amid a country where 15.8 million people, about one third of the population, needed assistance. “For three days, fear has gripped people who no longer know if it is safe to leave home, leaving them to choose between facing fear or starving.”
failed ceasefire
He described a ceasefire as absolutely crucial for the survival of children and families so lifesaving aid could reach those in need. The World Food Program (WFP) suspended operations after the deaths of three staff members last Sunday, and this Friday another International Organization for Migration (IOM) worker was killed when a convoy in Kimdi came under fire.
The United Nations has pressed for humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians and the wounded since the violence began last Saturday, but violations have been frequent on both sides. UN special envoy Volker Perthes expressed deep disappointment at the noncompliance, noting that ceasefires were only partially fulfilled despite formal commitments.
During these brief pauses, over 1,000 people were evacuated from Khartoum last Monday, according to Sudanese Red Crescent, including approximately 450 students who escaped from a central Khartoum school since fighting began.
Help and consumables
The Tripartite Mechanism, comprising the United Nations, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, urged warring parties to honor humanitarian pauses to allow civilians access to aid and medicines that are otherwise unavailable due to the disruption of care inside the country. The Sudanese Doctors Association reported that hospitals in Khartoum and other cities had been attacked and many were largely nonoperational because of the conflict.
Officials emphasized that the pause would give civilians trapped in fighting zones a chance to reach essential aid, receive medical treatment or evacuate safely. The mechanism also called on leaders Abdelfatah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to communicate decisions clearly within their ranks. It stated that only the Armed Forces and RSF possess the authority to enforce the pause and ensure civilian protection.
Sudanese Health Minister Ibrahim Haizam told television networks that many bodies lay in the streets because they could not be removed amid the fighting, creating a growing epidemic risk. He also noted that nearly one third of Khartoum’s hospitals were out of service, some due to water shortages, a situation underscored by a warning from the World Health Organization director-general that such acts threaten lives and deny care to the vulnerable.
MSF Sudan coordinator Cyrus Ray described the situation as catastrophic. He noted that the El Fasher hospital, aiding the organization, had treated 279 injured people and 44 deaths since the fighting began. He observed that many of the wounded were civilians struck by stray bullets and that children constituted a large share of the casualties. He added that patients often arrived with fractures, gunshot injuries, or shrapnel wounds, many needing blood transfusions. Beds were scarce as patients filled the hospital corridors.
Access to other facilities was limited as facilities near the conflict zone either closed or faced incapacity due to safety concerns. Surgeons from affected hospitals had joined the team, performing several operations, yet stocks were rapidly depleting. For relief supplies, Tuesday’s respite brought a limited resupply, but without reliable access to Darfur, the stockpile would likely sustain only three more weeks, underscoring the gravity of the ongoing deadlock. Nothing can move in Sudan under current conditions.