Fighting engulfs Sudan aid hub, sparking new exodus

An intense clash between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces has erupted in Wad Madani, the central aid hub, resulting in a renewed exodus of civilians who were already displaced by eight months of conflict, according to a report from an AFP correspondent.

Wad Madani had initially become a refuge for civilians escaping the intense fighting in Khartoum, situated 180 kilometers (110 miles) to the north, when the war broke out in April. United Nations figures indicate that nearly half a million displaced individuals sought shelter in Al-Jazirah state, with over 86,000 in its capital, Wad Madani.

However, as fighting engulfed the city on Friday, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA declared the suspension of all humanitarian field missions within and from Al-Jazirah state until further notice. More than 270,000 of Wad Madani’s 700,000 residents depended on humanitarian aid, as reported by the UN.

The conflict escalated as the regular army launched air strikes against paramilitaries in the city’s northern outskirts, causing fighting to spread within Wad Madani. In a scene reminiscent of the early days of the war in Khartoum, businesses were hastily boarded up, and civilians fled on foot, carrying whatever belongings they could manage, desperately seeking transportation to safer areas.

The ongoing war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and former deputy RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has claimed over 12,190 lives, according to estimates by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. UN figures indicate that more than 5.4 million people are internally displaced, and approximately 1.3 million have fled abroad.

RSF forces, advancing towards Wad Madani for weeks, issued a statement aiming to “assure dear citizens” that their goal is to destroy the army’s strongholds. In early December, the United States accused both rival forces of committing war crimes, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken specifically pointing to the RSF’s alleged ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region, including mass killings against the ethnically African Masalit people.