KHARTOUM, April  19, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Thousands of residents on Wednesday
fled Sudan's capital, where witnesses said bodies lay in the street from
fighting between the army and paramilitaries after a 24-hour truce failed to
take hold.

Five days of fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere in the northeast African
country have killed at least 185 people, according to the most recent UN toll.

Foreign diplomats have been attacked, and United Nations emergency relief
coordinator Martin Griffiths said the UN had received "reports of attacks and
sexual violence against aid workers".

Governments started planning to evacuate their citizens, among them many UN
staff.

The violence erupted on Saturday between the forces of two generals who
seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy,
Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

It followed a bitter dispute between them over the planned integration of
the RSF into the regular army -- a key condition for a final deal aimed at
restoring Sudan's democratic transition.

"Life in Khartoum is impossible if this war does not stop," said Alawya
al-Tayeb, 33, on her way out of the capital.

"I tried to make children not see the slain bodies on the streets," she
said, adding that her children currently suffer from shock and will need
treatment.

Deafening explosions rattled buildings and heavy gunfire was heard in
Khartoum, as witnesses said plumes of thick black smoke emanated from buildings
around the army headquarters in central Khartoum.

RSF fighters atop armoured vehicles and pickup trucks laden with weapons
swarmed the streets. Fighter jets roared overhead and fired on RSF targets, the
witnesses said.

Civilians huddled in their homes were becoming increasingly desperate, with
dwindling food supplies, power outages, and a lack of running water.

A 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire announced by South Sudan failed to take
hold at its proposed start at 1600 GMT on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the RSF said it would "fully commit to a complete ceasefire",
again from 1600 GMT and for 24 hours. The army had made no comment on such a
development.

Thousands of people took matters into their own hands and, according to
witnesses, began leaving their homes in Khartoum, some in cars and others on
foot, including women and children.
They said the streets were littered with dead bodies, the stench of which
filled the air.

"We are now on our way to Madani to stay with our relatives after my family
and kids lived through the terror of explosions," said Mohamed Saleh, 43, a
government employee.

"We were very worried fighters would start storming homes."
- Foreigners stuck -

The fighting has killed at least 185 people and injured more than 1,800,
according to UN figures from Monday.

But the real toll is thought to be far higher with many wounded unable to
reach hospitals, which are themselves being shelled, according to the official
doctors' union.

Out of 59 main hospitals in Khartoum, about 39 are currently "out of
service", said the union which reported "severe shortages" in remaining
facilities.
Japan said its defence ministry had begun the "necessary preparations" to
evacuate around 60 of its nationals from Sudan, including embassy staff.

Berlin aborted on Wednesday an evacuation attempt involving three military
transport planes, which would have carried 150 citizens, according to German
weekly Der Spiegel.

The US embassy in Khartoum said it started gathering citizens' personal
details while urging them to remain indoors and stay away from windows.

"Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the
airport, there are no plans for (a) US government-coordinated evacuation," it
tweeted.

The violence has also seen a US diplomatic convoy fired upon, the European
Union's ambassador attacked at home and a Belgian humanitarian official with
the EU hospitalised after being shot.

Aid groups have reported looting of medical and other supplies.

RSF has since Saturday captured a group of Egyptian soldiers in the
northern city of Meroe. It said they have now been transported to Khartoum.

"They will be handed over (to Egypt) whenever there is a chance," it said
in a statement.

- Crackdown -

The latest violence, at the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of
Ramadan, came after more than 120 civilians had already been killed in a
crackdown on regular pro-democracy demonstrations over the past 18 months.

Both generals have positioned themselves as saviours of Sudan and guardians
of democracy -- in a country which has known only brief democratic interludes.

Saturday's outbreak of violence is the culmination of deep-seated divisions
between the army and the RSF, which was created in 2013 by longtime autocrat
Omar al-Bashir.

Burhan and Daglo toppled Bashir together in April 2019 following mass
protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.
In October 2021, the pair led a military coup against the civilian
government, which was installed following Bashir's ouster, derailing an
internationally backed transition.

Burhan, a career soldier from northern Sudan who rose the through ranks
under Bashir, has maintained his coup was "necessary" to include more factions
into politics.

But Daglo, whose RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia in Darfur, has
since called the coup a "mistake" that failed to bring about change and
invigorated Bashir's remnants.