Clashes between two opposing generals have expanded to encompass two cities within conflict-ridden Sudan, witnesses said on Friday as the escalation is causing worries for the hundreds of thousands who have sought refuge from violence in the Darfur region.
Both the expansive western region and the capital city, Khartoum, have witnessed some of the most severe violence since the conflict began on April 15, pitting Sudan’s army against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Late on Thursday, clashes resumed in the capital of North Darfur state, El Fasher, according to witnesses, disruption comes after almost two months of relative calm in the city, which had become a refuge from the reported shelling, looting, rapes, and summary executions occurring in other parts of Darfur.
“This is the biggest gathering of civilians displaced in Darfur, with 600,000 people in El Fasher,” said Nathaniel Raymond of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health.
Witnesses also indicated fighting in Al-Fulah, the capital of West Kordofan state that shares a border with North Darfur.
Numerous individuals have sought refuge by crossing the western border into neighboring Chad, while others have found safety in different regions of Darfur.
Moving towards the eastern region, a resident of Al-Fulah told media that “the RSF are confronting the army and the police.”
“Shops were looted and there are dead on both sides, but no one can get to the bodies in this chaos,” said another witness in Al-Fulah.
As per UN statistics, the conflict has led to the displacement of approximately four million Sudanese individuals, while a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project indicates that at least 3,900 people have lost their lives across the nation.