Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, was hit by renewed fighting on Thursday, September 26 with airstrikes and drone attacks shaking the city as a worsening cholera outbreak ravages the country.
The Sudanese military launched a new offensive to reclaim areas held by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), sparking the heaviest clashes in months across Khartoum and nearby Omdurman.
Sudanese media reported intensified military movements, including airstrikes in several districts. Mohamed Ibrahim, a spokesperson for the health ministry in Khartoum, confirmed that the latest violence in the Karrari district claimed the lives of four civilians and left 14 others injured.
A military spokesperson acknowledged the ongoing operation but declined to provide further details. This escalation comes as Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of Sudan’s military, prepares to address the United Nations General Assembly.
Civilian Casualties Mount
The violence in Khartoum and beyond has taken a heavy toll on civilians. Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office in Geneva, expressed concern for those caught in the crossfire.
He revealed that at least 78 civilians had been killed by artillery shelling and airstrikes in the Khartoum area since the beginning of September.
“Our immediate concern is for the welfare of civilians, and the likelihood of further displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure,” Laurence said.
Fighting in Sudan’s war-torn region of Darfur has also worsened. In the city of El Fasher, RSF forces have been besieging the area since May.
According to UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk, an artillery shelling of a local market on September 20-21 killed at least 20 civilians, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Cholera Outbreak Spreads Rapidly
As violence escalates, Sudan is also grappling with a deadly cholera outbreak that shows no sign of slowing down. The country’s health ministry reported a sharp increase in cholera-related deaths this week.
The death toll from the outbreak surged by nearly 20% in just two days, with the total number of fatalities now standing at 473 since the onset of the rainy season two months ago.
On Wednesday, the health ministry reported 14,944 cholera cases across 10 states, with 386 new infections and six additional deaths recorded in a single day.
The hardest-hit region is Kassala, where UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the health ministry are conducting an urgent vaccination campaign.
UNICEF delivered over 400,000 doses of the oral cholera vaccine to Sudan earlier this month, with more vaccination efforts planned in other affected states.
The outbreak was officially declared by Sudan’s health ministry on August 12, after cholera cases began rising sharply in July.
The disease has spread rapidly in areas devastated by recent heavy rainfall and floods, particularly in eastern Sudan, where millions of people displaced by the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese military and RSF are living in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
Cholera, a highly contagious disease transmitted through contaminated food or water, causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and can be fatal if left untreated.
According to the WHO, over 900 areas in 11 states have reported cholera cases between June and late September, with the northern state being the worst affected.
UNICEF raised alarms about the impact of the outbreak on children, stating that an estimated 3.4 million children under the age of five are at high risk of contracting epidemic diseases, including cholera.
The ongoing conflict, which erupted in April 2023 due to rising tensions between Sudan’s military and the RSF, has exacerbated the country’s vulnerability to disease outbreaks, particularly in areas already grappling with food insecurity and displacement.
As the dual crises of conflict and disease continue to unfold, millions of Sudanese civilians face an increasingly dire humanitarian situation with no end in sight.
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