Southern Chad clashes: Eleven killed in new attacks

SOUTHERN CHAD clashes has left 11 people dead after attack by “bandits,” in violence between herders and sedentary farmers. Read more.

Report from TheSouthAfrican.com

By AFP - Agence France-Presse

Dated Thursday 18 May 2023 21:52 - full copy:

Southern Chad clashes: Eleven killed in new attacks

Southern Chad clashes has left 11 people dead after attack by “bandits,” in a region troubled by violence between herders and sedentary farmers, the military said on Thursday 18th May, 2023.

The attack occurred on Wednesday 10th of May, coinciding with an announcement by Chad that it had joined with neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in an unprecedented crackdown. “Armed bandit cattle rustlers attacked the village of Mankade in Laramanaye district, killing 11 villagers and making off with their cattle,” Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Ibrahim told AFP.

“The security forces pursued them, killing seven bandits and capturing eight others,” he said, adding that the stolen cattle had been recovered.

The incident occurred in the far south of the vast Sahel country, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the frontier with CAR.

SOUTHERN CHAD CLASHES AFFECTS SEVERAL VILLAGES

Laramanaye’s deputy prefect, Djimet Blama Souck, told AFP that 12 villagers, including women and children, had been killed in the southern chad.

On May 8, 17 villagers in the region died in a similar attack, which the Chadian army blamed on Chadian “bandits” who had crossed from the CAR.

On Wednesday, the defence minister told AFP that his troops last week had pursued the assailants across the border, and working with the CAR army had killed around a dozen of them.

That operation is now over, he said on Thursday, adding that “dozens of thieves were killed,” and the Chadian forces had returned home with 30 prisoners and 130 stolen cattle. The assertion could not be verified independently in this remote area.

In the CAR capital Bangui, an aide to President Faustin Archange Touadera on Thursday confirmed that the two countries had decided on a crackdown.

“Two weeks ago, two delegations from Chadian and CAR military headquarters met” at the border “to set a joint military action in place,” Fidele Gouandjika, a minister and special advisor to Touadera, told AFP.

Touadera and Chadian leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby “took the joint decision to eradicate the bandits on both sides of the border,” he said.

Ties between the CAR and Chad, two of the poorest and most troubled countries in the world, have often been tense.

Relations have been marked by mutual accusations that the other country is harbouring armed rebels. The fertile border areas of Chad, Cameroon and CAR have been gripped by a confrontation between predominantly Muslim nomadic herders and sedentary farmers who are typically Christian or animist. 

Tensions are historically rooted in rivalry over land. The farmers often accuse the herders of letting their cattle trample their crops and eat them, while the herders say they have the traditional right to graze there.

dwi-gir/ri/yad
© Agence France-Presse

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View original: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/eleven-killed-in-new-clashes-in-southern-chad-18-2023/

[Ends]

Sudan: Emergency Lawyers demands release of detained members of resistance committees

Report from Radio Dabanga - dabangasudan.org

Dated Friday 19 May 2023

Sudan’s warring parties ‘detain activists, hold volunteers incommunicado’   

(Social media)

(KHARTOUM / WAD MADANI) – Both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly detained ‘hundreds of activists and volunteers’ in the country’s capital. Two young activists charged of killing a police officer in Khartoum more than a year ago were held in Wad Madani, El Gezira, on Tuesday.

Military Intelligence held Saddam Juma, Amer Abboud, and Mujahid Anwar three members of the Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri) Neighbourhood Committees from their homes on Tuesday and took them to El Zakheera camp in El Kadaro in the northern part of the city.

The same day, RSF paramilitaries seized volunteer Mohamed Ezzeldin near the Arkoweet Emergency Room in Khartoum while he was collecting medicines and distributing them to patients in the neighbourhood. It is unclear where he has been taken.

In a statement posted on social media yesterday, Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers strongly condemned “the targeting by both sides of the armed conflict of members of resistance committees and volunteers helping out in the various emergency rooms” in Khartoum.

“Illegal detention is considered a crime under the Sudanese Penal Code, the Bill of Rights and Freedoms, and international covenants,” the Emergency Lawyers stated.

“We hold the two sides of the fighting responsible for the lives and safety of the detainees. The humanitarian conditions at the places of detention are extremely complex and insecure, because of the ongoing clashes, battles, and aerial bombardments. We call on them to immediately release the detainees.”

‘Prevalent’

“Kidnapping is prevalent in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, mainly carried out by the RSF, which is currently holding hundreds of innocent civilians in unknown locations,” Hala Elkarib, founder of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) tweeted from Khartoum yesterday.

“Volunteers who are providing aid to communities are frequently being kidnapped. While the SAF is detaining members of the resistance committees, the RSF is abducting them. Sadly, there is no progress being made toward establishing safe humanitarian passages.”

Unknown destination

In Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, Mohamed Adam ‘Tupac’ and Ahmed El Fateh ‘El Nana’ were detained by members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police/Forces on Tuesday.

Adam, El Fateh, and two other young men were detained in Khartoum in January 2022 and charged with killing a police officer during pro-democracy protests earlier that month.

The three were held in Kober Prison, where they, and in particular Adam, the main suspect, was repeatedly tortured. They were transferred to El Huda Prison in Omdurman in December last year after the judge dealing with the case ordered a criminal investigation against the director of Kober Prison. On April 15 fierce fighting broke out between the SAF and the RSF in the Sudanese capital. About a week later, RSF attacked El Huda prison and released all the inmates.

Adam stated in a video clip at the time that he would not take advantage of his escape and would return to detention until his case was completed and he and his comrades’ innocence was confirmed.

He and El Fateh, and their families later fled the violence in the city and sought refuge, with thousands of others, in Wad Madani.

Members of their defence team said in a statement last week that when the two young men volunteered to aid the many displaced people squatting in primary schools.

A school principal reported their presence to the Central Reserve Police which then seized Adam and El Fateh and took them to an unknown destination.

On March 21 last year, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police that stand under the command of the police, for serious human rights violations since the October 2021 joint SAF-RSF coup d’etat.

Many people in Darfur dread the forces of the Central Reserve Police (popularly known as Abu Teira or Abu Tira), remembering they used to terrorise people in villages and camps for the displaced in the region.

View original: 

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudans-warring-parties-detain-activists-hold-volunteers-incommunicado

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Snipers trap civilians in El Geneina, W. Darfur where displacement camps have been burnt down to ashes

A testimony read on air just before this interview said that the situation in Geneina was « indescribable ». It’s true, I m lacking the vocabulary to qualify this. And then we receive these short WhatsApp that say « can’t cross the street bc of snipers » #Darfur https://t.co/pHgqPmnE2t

— Mathilde Vu (@AgnesMaiV) May 19, 2023

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Darfur war intensifies: 280 killed, 100s wounded in Sudan's W. Darfur region amidst gunfire, shelling, fires

NEWS just in from Sky News UK, Saturday 20 May 2023 15:23 BST UK: 

Hundreds killed in Sudan's West Darfur region as fighting intensifies between armed groups. The Sudanese Doctors’ Union says at least 280 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the city of el-Geneina in Sudan’s West Darfur in just a few days of fighting, as the conflict between two competing military factions enters its second month. 

See original and VIDEO: gunfire, shelling, and fires after the attack on several neighbourhoods in West Darfur https://news.sky.com/video/hundreds-killed-in-sudans-west-darfur-region-as-fighting-intensifies-between-armed-groups-12885233

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Sudan: 822 dead. Humanitarian crisis worsens in Khartoum as military infighting enters 2nd month

Sudanese Doctors Union said on Tuesday in a statement the civilian death toll has climbed to 822 since fighting broke out on April 15. Read more.

Report from China.org.cn - Xinhua

Wednesday 17 May 2023 - full copy:

Roundup: Humanitarian crisis worsens in Sudan's capital as clashes enter 2nd month

KHARTOUM, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The already dire humanitarian crisis in Sudan's capital of Khartoum is worsening as the armed clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered the second month.

Residents in the conflict zones are facing acute shortages of basic services, food, electricity, and water supply, while the situation has been exacerbated by air bombardments and looting of major local markets.

This has disrupted the supply of daily necessities, sent the prices of food commodities to skyrocket, and raised fears about an inflation surge that could push millions of Sudanese to the edge of starvation.

Mohamed Noureddine Hashim, a Sudanese economist, told Xinhua that "major food commodity factories and import companies of the country are in Khartoum, but most of those factories have now been vandalized to closure."

He warned the number of citizens in need of urgent aid will likely increase "as millions of employees are currently unable to work because of the war."

"Prices have increased dramatically for staple goods and there are shortages of imported goods such as wheat flour, oil, and tomato paste," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing a report by the Mercy Corps.

"In some areas, shops have closed because of insecurity or lack of goods. Access to cash remains a significant issue in Khartoum and South Darfur, while the increase in fuel prices and transportation costs has hindered both daily life and the ability of people to move out of insecure areas," the report said.

Residents of Khartoum are suffering from frequent power outages for long hours due to the suspension of purchasing electricity through bank applications or direct sales windows, according to the National Electricity Corporation.

"There is no electricity in the northern Al-Shabiya area (a neighborhood north of Khartoum)," Tariq Hanafi, a resident of the Al-Shabiya neighborhood, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Hanafi said that some residents had to resort to other alternatives, such as generators, but failed to operate them due to a lack of fuel. The power outages also disrupted the water supply.

In addition, the disruption of the education system is causing deep concerns in the country, as observers said it could leave the future of thousands of students uncertain.

Salah Abdel-Ghaffar, a Sudanese academician and educational supervisor, said on Tuesday that over 500,000 students were scheduled to take the Sudanese certificate exams next June, but now their fate is uncertain.

"If the crisis prolongs, the academic year will be blown in the air," said Abdel-Ghaffar, who also expressed concerns about the "psychological effects of war on children."

Eyewitnesses reported direct clashes on Tuesday between units of the Sudanese Army and RSF fighters in the Jabra area in the south of Khartoum, as well as Arkaweet, Al-Mamoura and El-Jeraif in the east of the capital.

The Sudanese Doctors Union said on Tuesday in a statement that the civilian death toll has climbed to 822 since the clashes broke out on April 15. Enditem

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.

View original: http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2023-05/17/content_85349461.htm

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Zalingei, Central Darfur in Sudan: Telecoms down for 3rd day, total lack of info on humanitarian situation

Zalingei, Central Darfur State:

“Telecoms service down for the third consecutive day in light of clashes between SAF and RSF; complete lack of info on humanitarian situation”#EyesOnDarfur#KeepEyesOnSudan https://t.co/ahrtudnM5u

— Munchkin (@BSonblast) May 20, 2023

‘Oxygen is running out’: Doctors call on UK to get aid into Sudan saying medics are losing hope

People gather to get water using a generator due to a power cut as clashes between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the army continue, in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 12, 2023. Reuters/ Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Report from i news

By Sally Guyoncourt

Dated Wednesday 17 May 2023 11:31 am; Updated 3:01 pm

‘Oxygen is running out’: Doctors call on UK to get aid into Sudan saying medics are losing hope

Medics have called on the UK for more help with supplies in Sudan, saying oxygen and blood are running out

Sudan’s doctors have called on the UK to send urgent medical aid to their country, saying oxygen and blood are running out, medics are “exhausted and depressed” and decomposing bodies are piling up on the streets of Khartoum.

They say that a shortage of medical supplies and equipment is putting thousands of lives at risk, and that it needs to go “the last mile” to reach those who need it most.

Dr Ahmed Elleithi, president of the Sudan Doctors’ Union in the UK (SDU-UK), told i: “For every person killed by a bullet there are 100 people killed from chronic and acute disease.

“We have to keep our people alive, we need medical equipment, food, basic medical supplies.

“We need UK government aid to reach the people who need it most. It’s no good leaving it at the port – it must reach the last mile. We need a safe corridor to reach people.”

For patients with long-term healthcare issues such as cancer and kidney problems, receiving essential treatment has become increasingly difficult.

Dr Elleithi said: “All of this has come to a standstill, more than 5,000 people don’t have access to cancer treatment.”

Those needing regular kidney dialysis or awaiting a kidney transplant are missing out on regular treatment. “All of these people are in risk of death,” he said.

The plea comes as fighting intensifies in Sudan and the healthcare situation on the ground deteriorates rapidly.

An abandoned hospital in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state, as fighting continues in Sudan (Photo:AFP/Getty)

Khartoum has been pummelled by airstrikes and artillery fire, according to witnesses, and there has been shelling in neighbouring cities of Bahri and Omdurman.

The conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered unrest elsewhere in Sudan, especially in the western region of Darfur, but remains concentrated in the capital Khartoum.

Speaking at a SDU-UK press conference on Tuesday evening, Dr Ahmed Abbas said “street fighting is taking place on most of the streets in Khartoum”.

The spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors’ Union, who recently returned to the UK after working in Sudan, said around 60 out of the 86 hospitals in Khartoum and the surrounding area were no longer functioning and those remaining were only taking emergency cases.

They were, he said, struggling to maintain any kind of service with both electricity and water supplies regularly cut off.

He told how one emergency operation had to be conducted using only the light from mobile phones. 

“Oxygen, blood, IV supplies are in short supply and running out,” he said. “Doctors are working round the clock.

“They are exhausted, drained, fatigued and depressed and unfortunately they cannot be replaced.”

And they are risking their lives each time they go to work on “roads which are hazardous and dangerous”, he added.

He said the latest death toll was 822 with another 6,000 severely injured since the conflict began last month.

He said there was also a public health risk from the fact that “more dead bodies are piling up on the streets of Khartoum, some corpses are decomposing… attracting numbers of animals and insects, which is a major problem”.

A raid on the National Public Health Laboratory in Khartoum by fighters, which is now occupied by armed forces, also poses a health risk to residents.

“There are some very rare specimens, some vaccines and some viruses which are used for teaching and research [in there],” said Dr Abbas, “if these are not kept safe there is a risk to the area of Khartoum.”

While healthcare services are severely disrupted by the conflict, Dr Abbas said there had also been verbal threats from a senior doctor in the Sudanese military to doctors who are treating those on both sides of the conflict.

“The threats against the doctors has to be condemned,” he said.

Concerns were also raised by the union about the working relationship between doctors on the ground in Sudan and the nation’s ministry of health, particularly around safe passage of healthcare staff and patients for treatment.

Dr Abbas said: “Sadly, there is no collaboration or co-operation with the ministry of health.”

But Sudan’s acting minister of health, Dr Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, said he “acknowledged the reality” for healthcare workers in Sudan adding that “we would like to work together”.

A doctor points at the damage outside the East Nile Hospital in Khartoum, Sudan (Photo: RSF/Reuters)

The United Nations humanitarian response plan has called for $2.56bn to help people affected by the crisis in Sudan while the UN refugee agency is seeking more $472m to assist more than one million people over the next six months.

Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva and director of the co-ordination division, said: “Today, 25 million people, more than half the population of Sudan, need humanitarian aid and protection.

“This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country.

“The funding requirements of nearly $2.6bn is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan.”

The UK Government announced at the start of May an initial £5m of aid to Sudan offering items such as food, shelter, medical care and clean water.

But Andrew Mitchell, international development minister, acknowledged at the time “while this aid will help alleviate some of the immediate suffering in the region, the ongoing violence is creating huge additional needs”.

He said the UK was continuing “to pursue all diplomatic avenues to end the violence, de-escalate tensions and secure safe humanitarian access” adding “there can be no aid without safe access and a ceasefire which is permanent.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached by i regarding new UK aid commitments to Sudan.

View original: https://inews.co.uk/news/world/oxygen-doctors-uk-aid-sudan-medics-losing-hope-2345974?ico=related_stories

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Witnesses recount gunmen raid Khartoum church

Report from Reuters

By Maggie Michael

Editing by Aidan Lewis and Daniel Wallis

Dated Thursday 18 May 2023, 11:35 PM GMT+1 - full copy:

Witnesses recount gunmen's raid on church in Sudan's capital

CAIRO, May 18 (Reuters) - Over four terrifying hours last weekend, masked gunmen affiliated to one of Sudan's warring factions raided one of Khartoum's oldest churches, opening fire at church officials as they searched for cash, gold and women, two witnesses said.

The raid was one of many targeting homes, factories, banks and places of worship that residents have often blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been battling the army across greater Khartoum over the past month.

RSF fighters have spread out through many residential areas as the army has targeted them with air strikes and heavy artillery. Police have disappeared from the streets, leaving locals at the mercy of armed fighters and gangs.

The RSF, which denied responsibility for the raid on the Mar Girgis (St. George) Coptic church, has said in statements its troops are working to protect civilians, and that those committing abuses are criminals who have stolen RSF uniforms.

The attack at the church in the Masalma neighbourhood of Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, began shortly before midnight on May 13.

The witnesses described the attackers as in their late 20s, with at least one non-Arabic speaker. They wore scarves across their faces leaving only their eyes uncovered, and mismatched clothing including some items of RSF uniform, the witnesses told Reuters by phone.

The gunmen sprayed bullets at a priest, nuns, and sextons, wounding five of them, said the two witnesses, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

"They shouted, 'Where is the gold? Where is the money? Where are the dollars?'" one witness said. They also insulted the church leaders and workers saying, "You are Egyptians, sons of dogs", calling them infidels, and telling them to convert to Islam.

Just over 5% of Sudan's 46 million population is estimated to be Christian, split into 36 denominations, according to data from the Pew Research Centre and the Sudan Council of Churches.

Sudan's Coptic church is part of the Egyptian Coptic church headquartered in Cairo.

PRIEST THREATENED WITH DAGGER

During the attack, the assailants led the priest to his house at gunpoint and menaced him with a dagger, before seizing a safe that held gold and cash and stealing a car, the witnesses said.

They also vandalised the church offices and a sanctuary for Bishop Sarabamon, the top Coptic Church leader in Sudan, who was present during the attack and beaten with a chair and sticks but not recognised by the gunmen.

The church had an annex with elders and orphan girls, some of whom were hidden as the attack was unfolding.

The warring parties blamed each other for the attack. The army accused the RSF, while the RSF said in a statement that an "extremist" group affiliated with the army was responsible.

On Tuesday an Anglican church in Al Amarat district in Khartoum, which has seen heavy fighting, said it had been raided and "occupied" by RSF forces who stole a car and broke the doors of the church offices.

"We don't know what happened to the rest of the church's possessions," Ezekiel Kondo, archbishop of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Sudan, said in a statement on Facebook.

RSF fighters have also entered the Coptic church of the Virgin Mary in Khartoum, forcing staff to leave, according to a church employee familiar with the incident and social media posts by activists.

The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Anglican and Virgin Mary churches.

On Thursday, the same gunmen who attacked Mar Girgis returned to raid the apartments used by its priests, according to one of the witnesses who shared photos showing smashed doors, a broken safe, and scattered clothes and personal belongings.

Despite the repeated raids, the witness said he believed what happened was due to the general turmoil engulfing Sudan, not driven by sectarianism.

"I don't believe they are targeting the Christians as much as it's all chaos, chaos, chaos," he said. "They stormed houses of the Muslims as well. They are looting and stealing."

PHOTO Smoke rises above buildings after an aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

View original: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/witnesses-recount-gunmens-raid-church-sudans-capital-2023-05-18/

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Sudan: University archives destroyed in Omdurman

THIS is very sad. Not only are Sudanese people killing each other they're now destroying their history. They've wasted 70 years of independence.

Sudan combines the lands of several ancient kingdoms (Wikipedia)

Report from MENA

By Austin Cooper

Dated Wednesday 17 May 2023

Precious Sudanese university archives destroyed by fire and looting in Omdurman

Some witnesses believe the damage done to Sudan's universities across the country is more than mere random attacks.

The archives lost have been described as "part of our history as a country" [Getty File Image]

Precious archives containing thousands of documents have been destroyed in a fire set by looters this week at Omdurman Ahlia University, once known as the 'Liberated Lands' for its tradition of independent thought and free academia. 

The Muhammad Omar Bashir Centre for Sudanese Studies at Ahlia University was first struck by looting in the first days of the armed conflict between warring generals Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and Mohammed Hamdan Daglo.

"I worked all my life in the centre, serving as an archivist and researcher for the university," said university staff member Abdelgadir Ismail Ahmed. 

Now the collection of historical works, primary sources and doctoral theses has been destroyed.

I am so angry. About ten years ago, we donated a huge library belonging to my late great grandfather to Mohamed Omer Bashir center for Sudanese studies at Omdurman Ahlia University. The center even organized a little celebration for my family. Now everything is gone! pic.twitter.com/yBMJyGvMnn

— Reem -ريم (@ReemWrites) May 16, 2023

"The centre had books and papers by eminent Sudanese scholars who have since passed, available to the researchers of today," he continued. 

"Much of the archives that we lost are completely irreplaceable." 

The Ahlia university was, according Sudanese writer Reem Abbas, particularly dear to residents of Omdurman because it was established and constructed through grassroots funding and popular support. 

“Citizens chipped in, to build a university which was known as the ‘liberated lands’ during the rule of Omar al-Bashir,” said Abbas. 

“Ahlia was a beacon of independent intellectual thought, constantly under pressure. They employed professors who were free thinkers, unable to get jobs at other universities where the government held control,” she told The New Arab. 

“My family donated over 5,000 books from the collection of my grandfather to the centre. What we have lost is part of our history as a country.”

A pattern of looting has emerged across the country, which some Sudanese believe is part of an orchestrated attempt to destroy what remains of the state’s fragile infrastructure.

For the 6th day in a row: Souq Omdurman continues to burn#KeepEyesOnSudan https://t.co/tK1uq375iE

— Mohamed Mustafa - محمد مصطفى جامع (@Moh_Gamea) May 17, 2023

Other universities, libraries and research centres have been looted in the fighting. 

“It is not a coincidence that these centres of learning and Sudanese knowledge have been targeted,” Abbas said. 

“This feels like an attempt to cripple the country’s economy, and destroy what is left of the infrastructure we have in Sudan.” 

RELATED

Sudan's ancient kingdoms are being plundered for profit

Culture

Sara Taj al-Sir

View original: https://www.newarab.com/news/sudanese-archives-destroyed-fire-and-looting-omdurman

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S.O.S. please help the animals in Sudan and Sara Abdalla, director of zoo at Khartoum University

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Well done Samy for reporting on animals in need. I hope the report is followed up on with news of how the animals in Khartoum are surviving. Are they being cared for? Does anyone care?  

At the start of the Sudan crisis I donated to the British Red Cross to help the people of Sudan and South Sudan. I wish Red Cross could help animals too.

Report from Chronograph.com

By SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

Wednesday 10 May 2023

Updated: May 10, 2023 4:06 a.m.

Fears over scores of zoo animals caught in Sudan crossfire

ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — Dozens of zoo animals in Sudan's capital — including an elderly crocodile, parrots and giant lizards — are feared dead after street battles between the country's rival forces made the location unreachable.

At least 100 animals, all kept inside enclosures, will have gone more than three weeks without food or water, said Sara Abdalla, the head zoologist at the zoo, which is part of the Sudan Natural History Museum.

Millions of people in Sudan have endured shortages of food, water and medicines after the conflict halted the most basic services. But as the sounds of explosions ring across the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, Abdalla has been wracked with worry over her animal charges, particularly those that are increasingly rare to find in their natural habitats in Sudan. 

“I feel a great deal of misery and sadness, as well as helplessness,” she said in a telephone interview from Khartoum. “I have assumed that we lost the birds and mammals.”

The zoo is home to species including an African grey parrot, a vervet monkey, giant lizards known as Nile monitors, a desert tortoise, a horned viper snake and a Nubian spitting cobra. Prior to the fighting, these were all fed twice a day. But the last time they received their meals and for some, medications, was on April 14, the day before fighting broke out, according to Abdalla.

The conflict, which capped months of tensions between Sudan’s rival generals, pits the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who is the head of the ruling sovereign council, against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The RSF is commanded by Burhan’s deputy on the council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Abdalla said neither has heeded appeals to allow access to the zoo.

The conflict has turned much of Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman into a battlefield, with both sides using heavy weapons, including artillery and airstrikes, inside urban areas. The urban combat has badly damaged infrastructure and properties and poses great risk to civilians trying to move in the city streets.

Residents fleeing the capital have described seeing bodies littering sidewalks and central squares, particularly in areas not far from the museum. Roughly 500 civilians have been killed in the fighting so far, according to Sudan's doctors' syndicate, though the true number of dead is believed to be higher.

The zoo, which is housed inside the University of Khartoum, is one of the oldest in Sudan. The facility was established about a century ago as part of Gordon Memorial College, an educational institution built in the early 1900s when Sudan was a part of the British empire. It was annexed to the University of Khartoum two years after Sudan won independence in 1956.

Its current location is close to the military’s headquarters, where fighting has been heavy, preventing access to the museum.

Abdalla, who teaches zoology at the University of Khartoum, began working at the museum in 2006, and was appointed director of the facility in 2020. It was a job she had dreamed of since she visited the museum as a child. Now, trapped at her home in southern Khartoum with her husband and their two children — 9-year-old Yara, and 4-year-old Mohamed — she worries about the animals that have already survived years of unrest, economic collapse and pandemic lockdowns.

Neither the military nor the RSF responded to requests for comment on the plight of the animals and their caretakers.

“Unless someone released the animals early on when the clashes started, I don’t see how any would or could have survived for over two weeks with no care,” said Kamal M. Ibrahim, a biology professor at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in an email. He is familiar with the museum and its work, having graduated from the University of Khartoum and spending a sabbatical there.

The museum documents the wildlife of Sudan and its neighbor South Sudan. The facility serves both scientists and the general public. It also contains hundreds of valuable preserved animal specimens, some of which are now extinct, according to Abdalla.

Both Ibrahim and Abdalla are particularly worried about a Nile crocodile, raised from an egg at the facility since 1971. Abdalla said the crocodile was on a regimen of medicine and vitamins due advanced age. The crocodiles are increasingly rare to find in the Blue and White Nile rivers that cut their way through the country.

“It could have fared better if released from its enclosure,” Ibrahim said.

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a vervet monkey is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nile crocodile is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The 50-year-old reptile was raised in captivity from an egg, and is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nubian spitting cobra is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a carpet viper is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

In this undated photo released by Sara Abdalla, director of the zoological park at the University of Khartoum, a Nile monitor lizard is pictured inside its enclosure in Khartoum, Sudan. The animal is one of dozens feared dead or missing inside the park in Sudan's capital after intense fighting made the location unreachable. (Sara Abdalla via AP) AP

View original: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/fears-over-scores-of-zoo-animals-caught-in-sudan-18090097.php

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Sudan...The Animal Museum Cries For War. Importance of Sudan's Natural History Museum

THIS is so sad. Let's hope it's true that people are giving water to animals.

Report from EasternHerald.com 

By Arab Desk

Dated Friday 19 May 2023 - full copy:

Sudan.. The Animal Museum Cries For War

And the clashes, which have not ceased since April 15, have made it impossible to access the museum site, which includes no less than 100 animals, which were placed in their cages the day before the outbreak of the fighting.

The director of the Natural History Museum said in statements exclusive to Sky News Arabia that things are still unclear regarding the position of the animals inside the museum, before I receive unofficial reports that some members of the Sudanese army were providing water to the animals, which represents a breakthrough for repeated distress calls throughout the past few weeks.

Despite this breakthrough, the situation remains difficult for the animals of the Sudan Museum, while “Said” identified this case in several points:

- Animals face a difficult fate, and of course there are some who have died from these very complex conditions, depending on how long they were left unattended.

- I expect the death of many animals, mainly birds and mammals which cannot endure a month without monitoring, feeding or monitoring, and we cannot reach them yet, because the water supply of their cages is was doing at the start of the war, and we cannot set a timetable for the armed forces to respond to distress calls. It is more likely that she died of hunger and thirst.

- Some other animals can withstand these conditions as long as possible, these are reptiles like desert tortoises. Because they store water in their body.

- From a scientific point of view, birds cannot survive more than 5 consecutive days without food or water, especially in extreme temperatures that reach 46 degrees Celsius.

- The pets that some Sudanese used to keep at home are also in a difficult situation. Because many citizens have been displaced and left these animals behind.

- We cannot go to the headquarters of the zoo, because things are very complicated considering the location of the museum near the general command of the armed forces, which is a very dangerous area for the movement of civilians, who can be targeted by both sides of the conflict.

- I tried as much as possible to reach the museum, but I was in an area where the sounds of bullets had never been silenced, and I couldn’t; Therefore, no one has any information or assessment of the situation and the number of dead animals.

Importance of the Natural History Museum

- The Natural History Museum zoo is home to many species of animals including lion, African gray parrot, vervet monkey, giant lizards called Nile monitor lizards, desert tortoise, horned snake and nubian cobra.

- The site of the museum, which is close to the headquarters of the Sudanese army, where fighting was taking place there, prevented people from accessing it and rescuing the animals.

- The museum documents wildlife in Sudan as well as the state of South Sudan, and serves scientists, scholars and visitors.

- The museum contains hundreds of valuable preserved animal specimens, some of which are now extinct.

- The Sudanese fear the repercussions of the current crisis on the historical legacy of Sudan, which is difficult to compensate for in the light of the continuous clashes between the two parties to the conflict, with no hope of an immediate solution.

View original: https://www.easternherald.com/2023/05/19/sudan-the-animal-museum-cries-for-war/