More than 20 civilians were killed on Sunday evening, November 5, when shells fell on a market in Omdourman, a suburb near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, an NGO announced.
According to a press release from the Committee of Pro-Democracy Lawyers, which documents civilian casualties and human rights violations in the conflict, “during intense exchanges of fire between the belligerents, shells fell on a market in Omdourman”. “More than 20 civilians were killed and others wounded,” the statement said.
The previous day, at least 15 civilians had been killed by “shells falling on their homes” in Khartoum, a medical source had said.
Launched on April 15, the war between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, has claimed more than 9,000 lives, according to an estimate by the NGO Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), and considered to be grossly underestimated.
Unable to gain a decisive advantage since the start of the war, both sides are stalling, but neither is willing to make any concessions at the negotiating table. Talks between the belligerents took place in the Saudi city of Jeddah. They aimed to “facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, establish ceasefires and other confidence-building measures, and move towards a permanent cessation of hostilities”, according to Riyadh.
Previous attempts at mediation have only resulted in brief truces, all of which have been systematically violated. Generals al-Burhan and Daglo had opted instead for a war of attrition, in the hope of obtaining greater concessions at the negotiating table, according to experts.
The conflict has also displaced more than 6 million people. 1.2 million of them have fled to neighboring countries.