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KHARTOUM — Artillery fire, air strikes and gun battles rocked Sudan's capital on Saturday, witnesses told AFP, as the UN urged a stop to "wanton killings" that have left decomposing bodies in Darfur.

While fighting rages, relief efforts have stalled after more than two months of fighting between rival generals.

Houses in Khartoum shook from the fighting that continued unabated, residents said, with entire families sheltering in place, running low on vital supplies in the baking summer heat.

The United Nations says nearly 1.5 million people have fled the capital since violence erupted in mid-April, pitting the regular army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Entire districts of Khartoum no longer have running water, and those who remain in the city have had no electricity at all since Thursday, several residents told AFP.

The battle for power between army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed more than 2,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The deadliest violence has raged in Darfur, a vast western region on the border with Chad where the UN has warned of possible crimes against humanity and said the conflict has taken an "ethnic dimension".

In the South Darfur state capital Nyala, residents said they had been caught in the crossfire. They reported battles, shelling and artillery strikes.

"Civilians were killed, and wounded are arriving at the hospital," a medic told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The UN on Saturday urged "immediate action" to stop killings of people fleeing El Geneina, the West Darfur state capital, by Arab militias aided by the paramilitaries.

The Geneva-based UN rights office said witnesses had given "corroborating accounts" of militias targeting men from the non-Arab Masalit people.

It said all but two of the 16 people it interviewed testified they had witnessed "summary executions" and the targeting of civilians on the road from El Geneina to the border between June 15 and 16.

“All those interviewed also spoke of seeing dead bodies scattered along the road — and the stench of decomposition,” the UN said.

Aid blocked 

Two-thirds of health facilities in the main battlegrounds remain out of service, according to the Sudanese doctors’ union. The few hospitals still operating are extremely low on medical supplies and struggling to obtain fuel to power generators.

The UN says a record 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — are in need of aid and protection.

Aid has reached at least 2.8 million people, the UN said, but agencies report major hurdles to their work, from visas for foreign humanitarians to securing safe corridors.

“The army is... loath to let aid into the capital, fearing that packages will end up in the RSF’s hands” as has happened before, “allowing the paramilitary to hold out longer”, according to think-tank the International Crisis Group (ICG).

The United States, which along with Saudi Arabia sought to mediate between the warring sides and ensure humanitarian aid can reach those in need, said on Thursday it had put its efforts on 

hold.

“Both sides seek to use the humanitarian talks for tactical advantage... with the military demanding that the RSF vacate residential areas and the RSF demanding that the army cease its aerial barrages,” ICG said this week in a report.

‘Haven’ for mercenaries 

No side appears willing to stand down, exacerbating the risk of prolonged conflict with regional ramifications.

More than 150,000 people have fled Darfur over the border to Chad, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Chad, which already hosted more than 680,000 refugees, needs massive financial and technical support to confront this “unprecedented migratory crisis”, Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo said on Saturday.

Daglo’s RSF have their origins in the Janjaweed militias which former strongman Omar Bashir unleashed in response to a rebellion by ethnic minorities in Darfur in 2003, drawing charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“A collapsed Sudan could create a haven for transnational militants... mercenaries and traffickers who could plague the country’s neighbourhood for years to come,” ICG warned.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia — The Hajj pilgrimage has given Sudanese faithful Kamal Kabashi a brief respite from his country’s bloody conflict. Having safely arrived in Islam’s holiest city, he was praying for peace.

Only weeks ago his home in North Darfur state, in Sudan’s west, was hit by shelling as a power struggle between rival generals spiralled into an all-out war.

Kabashi, his wife and their five children were unharmed as they had relocated to a safer neighbourhood of El Fasher, the state capital, days before.

Now, after a perilous four-day journey by land and sea, Kabashi has joined more than one million worshippers on the annual pilgrimage to the Saudi holy city of Mecca.

“I am very afraid for my family and children,” said the 52-year-old government employee, dressed in the simple white robes worn by hajj pilgrims.

“I raise my hands to God almighty and ask him to solve the problem of Sudan,” he told AFP from Mecca’s Grand Mosque, the world’s largest.

Fighting since mid-April between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has claimed more than 2,000 lives.

It has largely been concentrated in greater Khartoum and in Darfur, a vast region on Sudan’s western border with Chad.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into chaos, with combatants occupying homes, looting properties and committing other abuses.

Artillery “shells fell inside my courtyard... severely damaging my house”, Kabashi said.

Travellers from around the world have been pouring into the modernised airport in Saudi Arabia’s coastal city of Jeddah before Hajj rituals begin on Sunday night.

But pilgrims from Sudan are mostly arriving by boat because Khartoum’s airport — the country’s main aviation hub — has been put out of service by the deadly fighting.

To make it to Mecca, Kabashi risked a more than two-day road trip to Port Sudan in the east. There he boarded a ship that took him across the Red Sea to Jeddah, a journey that lasted nearly two more days.

Kabashi, who has performed Hajj once before, was accompanied by his friend, Ahmed Jaber, who was making the pilgrimage for the first time.

Jaber, a 62-year-old merchant, said he paid more than $4,300 in fees and had been preparing for months for the Hajj — one of the five pillars of Islam which must be undertaken by all Muslims with the means at least once in their lives.

He thought his loved ones would be the main subject of his prayers, but “now I do not only pray for my family, I pray for all Sudanese,” he said, fighting back tears.

“We only dream of peace.”

Almost 600,000 people have fled Sudan for neighbouring countries, the International Organisation for Migration says.

And more than two million are displaced inside Sudan, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Those who have made it to Mecca walk in groups, their country’s flag printed on their white robes.

For math’s teacher Haram Ali, arriving in the holy city meant being able to relax for the first time in months.

“I am mentally at ease and I pray for peace for all Sudanese so that they too can feel the same comfort,” said the 49-year-old, calling her pilgrimage “a gift from God”.

“I have recovered from the fatigue of Sudan,” she said, raising her hands to pray as tears streamed from her eyes.

Standing nearby, Maha Abdullah, a 50-year-old housewife, said “the situation is difficult” back home.

“It needs God’s intervention to change things.”

KHARTOUM — Explosions rocked Khartoum on Thursday, more than two months after fighting broke out between rival Sudanese generals, with each side accusing the other of attacks on civilians.

Witnesses in the east of the capital reported artillery fire, while others in the northern suburbs said the force of heavy shelling from an army barracks shook the walls of houses.

Air strikes again pummelled several areas of greater Khartoum.

In Omdurman, Khartoum's sister city just across the Nile, "heavy aerial bombardment and anti-aircraft weaponry" battled "for more than two hours and has not stopped", a witness told AFP.

In central Khartoum, witnesses said clashes erupted on the streets as "military aircraft flew overhead" in an area that "had been calm for 10 days".

The fighting between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has claimed more than 2,000 lives since April 15.

The latest in a series of ceasefires that have all been systematically violated ended on Wednesday morning, and fighting resumed within minutes.

The three-day US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire had brought a brief respite to the millions of civilians trapped by fighting and suffering shortages of medical care, electricity, water and other essentials.

The army accused the RSF of "taking advantage of the truce to mobilise its forces and commit several violations against civilians".

The RSF in turn accused the army of fabricating a video of a rape, alleging "one of the actors appeared in the uniform" of the armed forces, "proving their guilt".

Fighting has largely been concentrated in greater Khartoum and in the Darfur region in the west, but on Wednesday, the army accused a key rebel group in South Kordofan state, hundreds of kilometres south of Khartoum, of having "attacked" its troops.

Darfur fighting rages 

The deadliest fighting has raged in Darfur, a vast region the size of France on Sudan's western border with Chad.

Witnesses in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, reported "clashes between the army and the RSF" on Thursday, after hours of increased "tension and mobilisation on both sides".

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, troops clashed with paramilitaries using “all types of weapons”, residents told AFP on Wednesday evening.

In Darfur, home to ethnic minority groups as well as Arab tribes, the conflict has “taken an ethnic dimension”, the United Nations has warned.

At a donors’ conference in Geneva on Monday, the international community pledged to raise $1.5 billion in aid for Sudan and neighbouring countries, but that amounted to less than half the estimated needs.

“Those pledges are generous, yet they total only half of what the UN estimates is required,” said Will Carter of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“It is too little given the sheer scale of the catastrophe that is unfolding,” he wrote in an article published in The New Humanitarian.

A record 25 million people — more than half Sudan’s population — need aid and protection, the United Nations says.

The conflict has plunged Sudan into chaos, with combatants occupying homes, looting properties and committing other abuses.

In his article, Carter cited the testimony of a person who had fled Khartoum and met him in White Nile state, on the border with South Sudan.

“The bombs kept falling and the walls kept shaking,” he quoted the unnamed person as saying. “The children stayed under their beds, but a bullet crossed into the wall a few inches from them.”

Almost 600,000 people have fled Sudan for neighbouring countries, the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.

More than 2 million are displaced inside Sudan, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

KHARTOUM — The Sudanese capital was again under fire on Wednesday, after the latest breached ceasefire between warring generals ended without any sign of an end to more than two months of war.

Already on Tuesday evening, an immense fire had engulfed the intelligence service's headquarters in the capital Khartoum with each side accusing the other of attacking it in violation of the 72-hour truce mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Mediators had repeated a warning that if the ceasefire, which ended at dawn Wednesday, were not respected they would consider adjourning talks between the warring sides in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The International Committee of the Red Cross had earlier said the "ceasefire was not respected", and cited gunshots that forced the agency to abort a transfer of wounded soldiers.

Fighting began on April 15 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Numerous ceasefires have been announced only to be violated, despite commitments by the two sides to provide for secure aid access.

The latest truce, which coincided with an international donors' conference in Geneva on Monday, did, however, bring a brief respite to the millions of civilians trapped by fighting in the capital and suffering shortages of medical care, electricity, water and other essentials.

But an exodus of refugees — and wounded — continued from the war's other main battleground Darfur.

On Wednesday morning, residents of Omdurman, just across the Nile from Khartoum, reported heavy artillery exchanges within minutes of the ceasefire expiring at 6:00 am (04:00 GMT).

Army warplanes flew low over several adjacent districts, the residents said.

Bodies on city streets 

Nationwide, more than 2,000 people have been killed since battles began, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said.

More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes, of whom around 600,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, according to latest figures from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The United States State Department said up to 1,100 people have been killed in the West Darfur state capital El Geneina alone.

Bodies have remained on the streets of the city, where months of unrest have left shops either vacant or gutted by looters.

One lay covered on the asphalt, in front of an armoured vehicle. A dead man was partially curled up outside a house. Several others appeared to be lying face down together on a dirt road.

More than 155,000 people have fled Darfur into Chad since the start of fighting, according to IOM.

Some described being shot at by fighters and subject to searches during the perilous journey.

The United Nations has spoken of possible “crimes against humanity” in Darfur as the conflict has “taken an ethnic dimension”.

The region is still reeling from a 2003 rebellion among non-Arab minorities that prompted then-strongman Omar Al Bashir to recruit the Arab Janjaweed militia, whose actions led to charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Washington has said the RSF, which traces its origins to the Janjaweed, is “primarily” responsible for recent “atrocities” in Darfur.

In an audio recording Tuesday, Daglo denounced what he called “a tribal conflict” in El Geneina, claiming to have ordered his men “not to intervene” and accusing the army of “creating sedition by distributing weapons” to civilians.

‘Fleeing for their lives’ 

Monday’s donors’ conference raised close to $1.5 billion in aid pledges for Sudan and neighbouring countries, but that amounted to less than half of the estimated needs.

A record 25 million people — more than half Sudan’s population — are in need of aid and protection, the United Nations says.

The Islamic Relief charity on Wednesday said “many farmers have been unable to plant at the start of the rainy season” as a result of the fighting.

“The conflict has forced many smallholder farmers from their land and destroyed their seed stocks and markets,” it added, in a country that relies primarily on agriculture for its income.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned this week that “the scale and speed of Sudan’s descent into death and destruction is unprecedented,” and the country could become a “locus of lawlessness” without strong international intervention.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency, on Tuesday said in an interview with AFP that there is “an element of insecurity that risks spreading”, but he appealed to neighbouring countries to “please keep your borders open because these people are really fleeing for their lives”.

KUWAIT CITY — Iran's top diplomat arrived in Kuwait on Wednesday, the third leg of a Gulf tour that saw him hold "constructive" talks with his Omani counterpart in Muscat earlier in the day.

It came a day after Tehran held discussions in Doha on its nuclear programme with Qatari and European Union officials, the latest in a flurry of diplomatic moves by the Islamic republic as it seeks to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian's tour of the Gulf will see the Iranian foreign minister also making a stop in the United Arab Emirates.

Gulf countries are seeking to ease tensions with Iran fuelled in recent years by the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. Most dramatically, China brokered an agreement in March between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties after a years-long rupture.

On Wednesday, Amir-Abdollahian discussed "the latest developments in the regional and international scene" in a meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, according to Kuwait's state news agency KUNA.

"The resolution of challenges with the collective participation of countries in the region is the best way to achieve the progress of nations and ensure security in the Persian Gulf," Amir-Abdollahian tweeted after the meeting.

Earlier on Wednesday, he met with Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi of Oman, mediator in indirect talks between Iran and its sworn enemy the United States over its suspect nuclear programme and a possible prisoner swap.

The Omani minister said they discussed "continued consultations and cooperation" on issues of bilateral concern.

"There is great consensus in the visions of the two states on a series of issues... that will contribute to stability, security and peace," he said, quoted by the official Oman News Agency.

Amir-Abdollahian called the meeting "constructive" and praised the effective cooperation between the two sides, ONA said.

Iran said last week it had been engaged in indirect negotiations with the United States through Oman, with nuclear issues, US sanctions and detainees on the agenda.

The following day, Iran’s nuclear negotiator said he had met with diplomats from three European countries in Abu Dhabi to discuss a number of issues including the country’s nuclear programme.

A landmark deal reached in 2015 between Iran and world powers was designed to prevent Tehran from secretly developing a nuclear bomb, a goal the Islamic republic has always denied.

The United States under then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018, before Iran began backing away from its own commitments, including by stepping up its enrichment of uranium.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has sought to revive the deal, but the process has stalled in on-off talks since 2021.

In recent weeks, Iran and the United States have denied media reports that they were close to reaching an interim deal to replace the 2015 accord.

In Doha on Tuesday, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, held talks with the European Union’s Iran nuclear talks coordinator Enrique Mora.

“I had a serious and constructive meeting with Enrique Mora in Doha,” he said on social media on Wednesday.

“We discussed and exchanged opinions on a range of issues, including negotiations to lift sanctions.”

EU spokesperson Peter Stano confirmed the meeting. He said the bloc was “keeping diplomatic channels open, including through this meeting in Doha, to address all issues of concern with Iran”.

Amir-Abdollahian also discussed “developments in the nuclear agreement” with his Qatari counterpart, according to the official Qatar News Agency.