Khartoum: In the western Darfur region of Sudan, bodies have lined the streets as the UN reported on Tuesday that more than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes as a result of more than two months of fighting.
The capital of Khartoum, which had been gripped by the war that broke out on April 15 between two rival generals, experienced a brief respite thanks to a three-day cease-fire that was set to end Wednesday at dawn.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, more than 2,000 people have died as a result of the fighting nationwide. Up to 1,100 people have reportedly died in El Geneina alone, the capital of the bloodiest-ravaged West Darfur state, according to the United States State Department.
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The UN has discussed potential "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, where the conflict has "taken on an ethnic dimension," according to a joint statement from the African Union and the regional group IGAD in east Africa.
In El Geneina, where months of unrest left many stores empty or looted, bodies have remained on the streets.
In front of an armoured vehicle, one was lying on the asphalt, covered. Outside a house, a dead man was partially curled up. On a dirt road, it appeared that several others were all face down.
Mass exodus of city dwellers has taken place, with many taking whatever they could to flee to the Chad border. Some spoke of being searched and being fired upon by fighters while on the dangerous journey.
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The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, his former deputy, are engaged in combat with the army, which is under the command of Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the State Department, attributed the majority of the West Darfur "atrocities" to the RSF, and Volker Perthes, the head of the UN mission in Sudan, mentioned reports of attacks "allegedly committed by Arab militias and some armed men" wearing RSF uniforms.
Daglo condemned "a tribal conflict" in El Geneina in a social media video posted on Tuesday.
In the past four days, the Chadian town of Adre has received nearly 900 wounded people and 15,000 Sudanese refugees from the capital and surrounding areas of West Darfur, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Since the start of the fighting, at least 150,000 people have fled from Darfur into Chad, according to the UN.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, the number of people driven from their homes by the conflict has surpassed 2.5 million, including about 550,000 who have fled abroad.
The head of the UN's refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, pleaded with Sudan's neighbours on Tuesday to maintain open borders despite security concerns. "I understand your security concerns, but please keep your borders open because these people are really fleeing for their lives," he pleaded with all of the neighbouring nations in an interview with AFP.
Donors gathered on Monday at a conference in Geneva where they made pledges totaling nearly $1.5 billion, less than half the amount estimated to be required to address Sudan's humanitarian crisis and assist its neighbours in sheltering displaced people.
According to the UN, 25 million people in Sudan need assistance. Eddie Rowe, the Sudan director for the World Food Programme, stated that "the humanitarian needs have increased to record levels in Sudan and there is still no sign of an end to the conflict." The funding levels for the conflict were called "absolutely shameful" by Alexander Kjaerum of the Danish Refugee Council, who contrasted them with the outpouring of support at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The most recent in a string of cease-fires that have all been routinely broken started on Sunday and are scheduled to end at 6:00 am (0400 GMT) on Wednesday. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated on Monday that despite providing some relief, it was "not respected."
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Gunshots were heard in close proximity to its convoy during an operation it carried out to transport wounded soldiers to a hospital, the agency said. Antonio Guterres, the head of the UN, issued a warning on Monday, saying that "the scale and speed of Sudan's descent into death and destruction is unprecedented." Without strong international backing, he warned, "Sudan could easily devolve into a hotbed of lawlessness, radiating insecurity throughout the region."