Khartoum
\nOn December 15, Sudanese civilians woke up to sounds of gunfire and explosions in Wad Madani, a city under army control that hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the capital Khartoum and nearby towns.
\nThe paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had attacked the city, raising fear that the group would loot homes, kill men and rape women if they captured it.
\n\u201cThey rape [women] to break the spirits of men,\u201d Omonia Kheir*, a Sudanese woman from Wad Madani, told Al Jazeera. \u201cThat\u2019s why people here are not scared of dying or getting shot, because then you die as a martyr. But everyone is scared of [women in their families] getting raped.\u201d
\nAfter eight months of war, the RSF is on the verge of capturing Wad Madani, the second-largest city in the country\u2019s heartland, in what will mark a major turn in the conflict.
\nJust last week, RSF leader Mohamad Hamdan \u201cHemedti\u201d Dagalo agreed to meet top army general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan later this month under the auspices of the East African bloc IGAD.
\nBut even as RSF commanders call for an end to the war with foreign leaders, their fighters are instigating a new humanitarian catastrophe on the ground.
\n\u201cMy mother and I were shocked,\u201d said Kheir, on Sunday. \u201cIn every neighbourhood we saw 10 or 20 families leaving [town]. People were walking, going in cars, lorries and on donkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Khartoum On December 15, Sudanese civilians woke up to sounds of gunfire and explosions in Wad Madani, a city under army control that hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the capital Khartoum and nearby towns. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had attacked the city, raising fear that the group would loot homes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-375558","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n