Attack in Khartoum\u2019s sister city of Omdurman comes as UN says internal displacement across Sudan is nearing 10 million
\n Omdurman
\nPro-democracy activists in Sudan say about 40 people have been killed in \u201cviolent artillery fire\u201d by paramilitary forces in the twin city of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, as fighting and displacement intensify across the war-ravaged country.
\nThe Karari Resistance Committee, one of hundreds of grassroots organisations that coordinate aid across Sudan, said on Friday that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group was behind the deadly attack on Omdurman a day earlier.
\n\u201cSo far, the death toll is estimated at 40 civilians and there are more than 50 injured, some seriously,\u201d the Karari Resistance Committee said in a statement posted on social media.
\n\u201cThere is still no precise count of the number of victims,\u201d it said, adding that bodies were received by Al Nao university hospital and other private health facilities or were buried by relatives.
\nThe report has come just days after an RSF attack on a village in Sudan\u2019s central Gezira state killed at least 100 people, according to local activists.
\nWar erupted in Sudan in mid-April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF, creating the world\u2019s largest displacement crisis and leaving at least 15,500 people dead, according to United Nations estimates.
\nThe deadly assault on the village of Wad al-Noura on Wednesday drew widespread condemnation this week, including from UNICEF\u2019s Executive Director Catherine Russell, who said at least 35 children were reported killed and more than 20 others injured.
\n\u201cThis is yet another grim reminder of how the children of Sudan are paying the price for the brutal violence,\u201d Russell said in a statement on Thursday.
\n\u201cOver the past year, thousands of children have been killed and injured. Children have been recruited, abducted and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Over five million children have been forced from their homes.\u201d
\nFighting continues daily, including in the capital of Khartoum, with both sides accused of war crimes including the deliberate targeting of civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.
\nAnother flashpoint is the city of el-Fasher in Sudan\u2019s North Darfur region, where RSF paramilitary forces recently launched a deadly assault.
\nMore than 800,000 civilians are trapped in el-Fasher as violence rages, according to the UN\u2019s International Organization for Migration (IOM), and healthcare and other services have collapsed.
\n\u201cCrucial roads out of el-Fasher are blocked, preventing civilians from reaching safer areas, while at the same time limiting the amount of food and other humanitarian aid coming into the city,\u201d Othman Belbeisi, IOM\u2019s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said on Thursday.
\nThe IOM also warned that internal displacement across Sudan could soon top 10 million.
\nThe agency said 9.9 million people were internally displaced across the country\u2019s 18 states; more than half of those displaced are women and more than a quarter are children under age five.
\n\u201cImagine a city the size of London being displaced. That\u2019s what it\u2019s like, but it\u2019s happening with the constant threat of crossfire, with famine, disease and brutal ethnic and gender-based violence,\u201d said IOM Director General Amy Pope.
\n\u2018We need eyes of the world on Sudan\u2019
\nMichael Dunford, the World Food Programme\u2019s regional director for East Africa, called the situation in Sudan \u201cnothing short of a tragedy\u201d.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a country on the verge of collapse,\u201d he told Al Jazeera, saying that the conflict and lack of humanitarian access made reaching the population \u201cextraordinary challenging\u201d.
\n\u201cBecause of the displacement, because people are constantly on the move we are having to constantly change our distribution points so
\nthat we are able to meet those people,\u201d Dunford added.
\nHe called it \u201cthe most difficult operation\u201d he has seen in a quarter of a century, citing \u201cthe size of the scale, of the need, the challenges that we face, the insecurity, and unfortunately the lack of global attention.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not that it\u2019s been forgotten but it certainly has been neglected because of what is happening elsewhere in the world, and at this very moment we need the eyes of the world on Sudan because we need all the support that we can get.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attack in Khartoum\u2019s sister city of Omdurman comes as UN says internal displacement across Sudan is nearing 10 million Omdurman Pro-democracy activists in Sudan say about 40 people have been killed in \u201cviolent artillery fire\u201d by paramilitary forces in the twin city of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, as fighting and displacement intensify across the war-ravaged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-411794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n