In the early hours of Sunday, residents reported hearing gunshots and heavy artillery explosions overnight. Al Arabiya television broadcast images showing a thick column of smoke rising over some districts of Khartoum.
“We are afraid, we have not slept for 24 hours because of the noise and the shaking in the house. We are worried about running out of water and food, and medicines for my diabetic father,” Huda, a young resident of southern Khartoum, told Reuters.
“There is so much false information and everyone is lying. We don’t know when this will end, how it will end,” she added.
Tagreed Abdin, an architect who lives in Khartoum, said there was no electricity and people were trying to conserve their phone batteries. “We can hear air strikes, shelling and gunfire,” he said.
Doctors’ unions said it was difficult for doctors and sick people to get to and from hospitals and called on the army and RSF to provide safe passage.
Sudan’s telecommunications company MTN has blocked internet services on orders from the government’s telecoms regulator, two company officials told Reuters on Sunday.
The weekend fighting followed rising tensions over the integration of the RSF into the army. Disagreement over the timetable for that has delayed the signing of an internationally endorsed agreement with political parties on the transition to democracy.
A prolonged confrontation could plunge Sudan into widespread conflict as it grapples with economic collapse and tribal violence, derailing efforts to advance to elections.
At least 56 civilians have lost their lives, including the three employees of this agency, according to the Central Committee of Doctors of Sudan.
With information from AFP and Reuters.