Omdurman 11 miles from Khartoum is 'uninhabitable' amid its sanitary crisis and a total service collapse

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Further to a 12 July 2024 post at Sudan Watch titled Sudan's police order all foreigners to leave Khartoum & surrounding region, the following report describes Sudan's Omdurman locality as 'uninhabitable' amid its sanitary crisis and total service collapse.

Omdurman is in the "surrounding region". The distance between Khartoum and Omdurman is 11.1 miles, a 14-minute drive in light traffic. Why has Sudan's Ministry for Health allowed Omdurman to fester and not mobilised people to respectfully identify and bury the dead and clean up the area?

Maybe here's why. Around a week ago, the Sudanese authorities gave "foreigners" two weeks to leave Khartoum and surrounding region. It seems likely that the SAF plans to attack the region to rid it of RSF and supporters.

Dear God bless and help Sudan and her people, they need to be free of war.

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Report from Dabanga Online English
Dated Monday, 15 July 2024  21:11 OMBADDA. Here is a copy, in full:

Omdurman locality ‘uninhabitable’ amid sanitary crisis and total service collapse

Stagnant water in the streets of Ombadda, a breeding ground for insects and waterborne illnesses 

(Photo: Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room via Facebook)

The Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room said that the Ombadda Block 5 neighbourhood in Omdurman, sister city to the capital Khartoum, is currently uninhabitable due to the presence of decomposing corpses in streets and in homes a complete lack of services.

In a statement on its Facebook page, the Emergency Room indicated that there are no remaining functional markets, hospitals, or medical centres in Ombadda Block 5. Charity kitchens and hospices have also been relocated to Ombadda Block 2.

The streets of Ombadda are covered with litter 

(Photo: Ombadda El Amir Emergency Room via Facebook)

“Waste is widespread, and plundered homes have become breeding grounds for dirt, filth, and a gathering place for rodents and insects. Several corpses have left waste traces after decomposition, making the environment unsanitary. The area has not been fully evaluated to obtain the necessary environmental information.”

Parts of pipes and water connections have been stolen or broken, resulting in stagnant water in the neighbourhood, a breeding ground for water-borne ilnesses.

Kala-azar* (visceral leishmaniasis) disease was widespread in the neighbourhood when it was populated, according to the statement. Conditions in Ombadda blocks and 6 are similar to those in Ombadda 5, the Emergency Room said, noting that there are no residents left in the area.

There are only two families remaining in Ombadda 5. The emergency room warned that all residents from this area should leave to the safer eastern part of Ombadda 2.

The neighbourhood is divided: the northern and northeastern sections are under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while the middle section is a friction zone between the SAF and the RSF. Both the SAF and the RSF have imposed sieges on the parts of Ombadda controlled by their rival since October, severely hindering the flow of aids and goods into the area.

Ombadda, a locality primarily inhabited by people who fled previous wars and poverty in Kordofan and Darfur, witnessed heavy fighting on multiple occasions since the outbreak of war in mid-April of last year. On September 5, at least 32 people were killed in a SAF air raid targeting Ombadda Block 21.

Hunger hotspot

Already in March, 240,000 families in Khartoum state were threatened with severe hunger.

Sudan has been highlighted as one of the highest concern “hunger hotspots” in three separate reports published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Clingendael Institute of International Relations in the Netherlands, and a joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Hunger is deepening in Sudan and in neighbouring countries to which millions of people have fled, creating a hunger crisis that could become the world’s largest.

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/omdurman-locality-uninhabitable-amid-sanitary-crisis-and-total-service-collapse

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Related

A soup kitchen in Khartoum state (File photo: Hadhreen FB page)

Source: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/soup-kitchens-in-sudan-capital-resume-activities-thanks-to-huge-efforts-of-volunteers

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16 months in: Sudan war at a glance

Source: Dabanga English Online report dated Tuesday, 16 July 2024

Read full story: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/16-months-in-sudan-war-at-a-glance

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‘No diplomatic end to Sudan’s war in sight' -Baldo

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Peace meetings between Messrs Burhan and Hemeti could happen as soon as Hemeti makes his fighters leave Khartoum and move out of the residential homes and properties they've commandeered in Khartoum. It's as simple as that. Once that happens, Gen. Burhan said (many times) he will attend ceasefire and peace talks. The fact that none of it has happened proves Hemeti is not genuine in wanting peace and security for the people of Sudan. He wants Sudan and what's left of it by the time he's hauled off to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

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From Radio Dabanga
Dated Friday, 12 January 2024; 18:00 NEW YORK - here is a copy in full:

‘No diplomatic end to Sudan’s war in sight,’ warns Suliman Baldo

Map of Sudan showing areas under SAF (in red) and RSF (in yellow) control as of December 21, 2023 (Source: @ThomasVLinge via X)

As the war between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soon enters its ninth month, there remains no tangible end in sight to the widespread suffering endured by the country and its people. That is despite a flurry of diplomatic mediation efforts, says prominent Sudanese researcher Suliman Baldo.

In his analysis ‘Sudan’s Interminable War, published by the International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives on Tuesday, conflict resolution expert Suliman Baldo* observes that while both the SAF and the RSF “initially believed they would crush the other in days”, the conflict has dragged on into “multiple localised ethnically driven clashes beyond either party’s control”.

On the ground, the RSF has succeeded in expanding its territorial control in Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum, while SAF remains in control of northern, central, and eastern regions, including de-facto administrative capital Port Sudan. In December, an RSF offensive “wrestled the central Gezira state from the army’s control and threatened its presence in the White Nile and Sennar states”.

The war unmasked SAF’s ineptitude, Baldo asserts, “as its senior commanders became too steeped in grand corruption practices to pay attention to the decay of SAF as a fighting force”.

Their adversary, the RSF, is “ethnically aligned, with plunder as the main motivation of its fighters”. The paramilitary force “proved incapable of providing for the population” in El Gezira after it took over the former safe haven for those who fled Khartoum and El Obeid in the early days of the war.

At the end of December, the Wad Madani Resistance Committees lamented the deterioration of security, health and humanitarian conditions in El Gezira, continued attacks by the RSF, the lack of functional hospitals, and the ongoing waves of displacement in the state.

The region is divided over Sudan. Sudanese policy analyst Kholood Khair and civil society activist Asmahan Akam wrote in Time magazine in December that “Egypt, Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia support the SAF while the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a UN Security Council member, backs the RSF in seeming violation of the body’s own arms embargo on Darfur, first enacted in 2004 and just renewed (with a yes vote from the UAE) in March 2023”.

‘No tangible solution’

The SAF, with junta leader Lt Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan at its head, conditions a ceasefire on the RSF evacuating private and residential areas. Baldo explains that this is most likely to be rejected by the latter, as it maintains a tactical advantage in doing so, especially in Khartoum where it continues to lay siege to several SAF command stations.

Whilst ongoing conflict threatens SAF’s collapse, Baldo believes, “a traffic jam of diplomatic initiatives” has yet to bring forth any sustainable nor tangible end to the conflict.

The Jeddah talks, facilitated by the US and Saudi Arabia, stalled due to belligerents’ failures to honour commitments. The United Nations (UN) “was relegated to an observer’s seat as Sudan unilaterally terminated its political mission”, whereas “offers of mediation by Russia, Turkey, and a Sudan neighbours’ initiative launched by Egypt in July failed to generate traction because the RSF declined to cooperate with any”.

By the end of 2023, the Horn of Africa Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), whose members include Djibouti, Kenya, the Sudans, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, emerged as a lead mediator for a humanitarian ceasefire and civilian-led political negotiations.

IGAD convened in Djibouti in early December, for an extraordinary assembly session on the situation in Sudan, where members agreed to redouble efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution, including mediating head-to-head talks between El Burhan and RSF commander ‘Hemedti’.

“However, several challenges emerged in the final days of 2023 and early 2024 that risk derailing the IGAD’s role in these processes.”

Hours after the IGAD communiqué of the summit was released, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially denied El Burhan’s agreement to meet with Hemedti without conditions, stating that the communiqué’s content “was not based on consensus nor legally binding.”

Baldo notes that the FA Ministry is “dominated by Islamist allies of the SAF” who are most likely behind the initial rejection of the offer. El Burhan later agreed to meet with Hemedti.

Another challenge facing IGAD’s role is the official reception and hospitality received by Hemedti during his Africa tour, in which he was hosted by the heads of four IGAD member states, including chairperson Ismail Guelleh, the President of Djibouti.

“Hemedti’s reception as a visiting dignitary bestowed on him a diplomatic legitimacy that provoked the ire of the SAF, and made less likely that Burhan would agree to meet with him under the IGAD’s auspices after this slight”, the expert explained.

Last June, Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, chaired by El Burhan, declared that “Kenya is not neutral and is home to RSF rebel leaders”.

Last week, acting FA Minister Ali El Sadig announced that Sudan summoned the Kenyan ambassador to protest against the official reception of Hemedti by the Kenyan president.

* Dr Suliman Baldo is an expert in justice, human rights and conflict resolution in Africa and served as the Africa head of International Crisis group, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and has also held human rights and mediation posts in the United Nations. He has provided expert advice on human rights in Mali and Darfur and currently leads the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker. (Source: International Centre for Dialogue Initiatives website)

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View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/no-diplomatic-end-to-sudans-war-in-sight-warns-suliman-baldo

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Sudan presidential palace blown up in military strike?

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: This news just in but I can't verify it. It's behind a paywall at The Times online so I subscribed in order to read the report. After doing so, I still can't access the full report. Maybe it's propaganda that somehow found its way into the website. Here's what I saw.

Report from The Times

By Fred Harter, Port Sudan

Dated Tuesday 09 May 2023

Sudan presidential palace blown up in military strike

The presidential palace at the centre of fierce fighting between Sudan's warring military leaders has been destroyed in an airstrike, according to the country's paramilitary unit. The Rapid...

Read more here: Sudan presidential palace blown up in military strike

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UPDATE 30 mins later: Here below is the full report including 2 photos currently on website of The Times. Note, there are no photos of the allegedly destroyed palace. One of the car photos appeared online earlier this week. 

Also, a Reuters report just in says "an army source denied the claim"- see the report by Reuters here:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/sudan-crisis-air-strikes-hit-khartoum-absence-of-police-prompts-looting-robbery/ar-AA1aYrDJ

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Sudan presidential palace blown up in military strike

Fred Harter, Port Sudan | Jane Flanagan

Tuesday May 09 2023, 9.30pm, The Times

The presidential palace at the centre of fierce fighting between Sudan’s warring military leaders has been destroyed in an airstrike, according to the country’s paramilitary unit.

The Rapid Support Forces have held the compound since April 15, when tensions between the country’s two most powerful figures exploded into warfare and turned the capital into a battleground.

In a statement last night the RSF said the colonial-era building — where the famed British Army officer Gordon of Khartoum was killed during the colonial era — had been devastated by missiles launched by air force fighter jets. They pledged “an appropriate response”.

Residents living near the sprawling complex, featured on stamps and bank notes, have been caught up in the clashes between forces loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de-facto leader since a coup in 2019, and the RSF’s warlord leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The palace attack is expected to stall talks between their envoys, who are meeting in neighbouring Saudi Arabia to discuss a truce to allow humanitarian organisations to reach those in need.

Exact figures have been impossible to determine, but hundreds of people are believed to have been killed and thousands wounded since fighting broke out, with aid supplies disrupted and 115,000 refugees fleeing into neighbouring states.

Elradi Hamdan, 44, an architectural engineer from Edinburgh, told The Times that Foreign Office officials informed him he could only board an RAF plane in Port Sudan if he left behind his pregnant wife and five children, all of whom are Sudanese. “They said, ‘If you want to come alone there is no problem, but you cannot take anybody else, not even your children’,” Hamdan said. “They just took people with the British passport.”

British government flights out of the country for UK passport holders ended last week. Saudi Arabia and other countries, including the United States, are still evacuating people from Port Sudan’s dockside.

Hamdan’s wife is recovering from breast cancer and his children are traumatised after being caught up in the fighting in Khartoum. As Hamdan spoke to The Times, his 10-year-old son could be heard crying out in the background. “He’s talking about the war in his sleep,” Hamdan said. “He heard a lot of gunshots and saw a lot of things a kid his age shouldn’t see.”

The family are camping in a half-built call centre owned by a friend. Before arriving in Port Sudan, they travelled twice to the Wadi Seidna airstrip, another site where the RAF had been staging evacuation flights.

On the second trip, Hamdam said he watched “five or six flights come and go” as officials refused to take his family. He returned to his home to find it had been looted.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “As a British citizen, I can go anywhere if there is a ticket. But I cannot leave my wife and children behind.”

The presidential palace in Khartoum has been at the centre of the fight

RAPID SUPPORT FORCES/ESN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A destroyed car near the presidential palace. People living near the compound have been caught up in fierce clashes between the warring factions 

GETTY IMAGES

View original: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sudan-presidential-palace-blown-up-in-military-strike-f3c23mgjq

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