Highlights: Sudan has been in the grip of an open conflict between the regular army and the SFR militia since Saturday. In Khartoum, Sudan's capital, most residents remained locked in their homes. In some neighborhoods, there is no electricity or water, and some Sudanese are angry. They feel like they are being held hostage by these two generals vying for power, says Dallia Abdelmoniem, a resident of a neighborhood adjacent to the airport. The mere fact of using fighter jets to bomb in the middle of the city shows that they don't care about civilians, she says.

Sudanese are watching helplessly as fighting has been raging since Saturday. In Khartoum, Sudan's capital, most residents remained locked in their homes. In some neighborhoods, there is no ...

Sudan: 'We are just collateral damage in their power struggle'

Khartoum, Sudan, 16 April 2023: At the risk of their lives due to the presence of snipers on rooftops, civilians are sometimes forced out. Sudan has been in the grip of an open conflict between the regular army and the SFR militia since Saturday. AFP--

Text by: Alexandra Brangeon Follow

3 min

Sudanese are watching helplessly as fighting has been raging since Saturday. In Khartoum, Sudan's capital, most residents remained locked in their homes. In some neighborhoods, there is no electricity or water, and some Sudanese - especially those who have demonstrated in recent months for the departure of the military and the return of power to civilians - are angry. They feel like they are being held hostage by these two generals vying for power. This is the case of Dallia Abdelmoniem, a resident of a neighborhood adjacent to the airport, joined on Monday, April 17 by RFI.

Advertising

RFI: What is the current state of affairs?

Dallia Abdelmoniem: For three days there has been continuous shooting, artillery fire, small arms fire and even fire from fighter jets. Explosions are heard all the time. It becomes difficult, for our nerves, for our health. But nothing can be done.

Yesterday [Sunday, April 16], there was a three-hour truce, but not in our neighborhood. They continued to shoot at each other until 18:00, the time of Iftar, the evening meal, because we are in the middle of Ramadan. So, we are waiting and hoping that it will stop soon.

Do you have electricity? What to eat?

We haven't had electricity since Saturday and we can't go out. It's not safe outside. So, we stay inside with the doors locked. We have all settled in a room, in the center of the house, where there are no windows because the artillery fire shakes the windows constantly and we are afraid of shards of glass.

What do you think of these fights?

I am angry because every time we civilians find ourselves caught in a pincer movement and, this time, we are stuck between two men who have too many weapons, too much power and who don't care. The mere fact of using fighter jets to bomb in the middle of the city shows that they don't care about civilians.

We are just puppets in their hands. They do what they want and don't care about us.

Do you feel like you're being held hostage?

We have always been their hostages, but this time the situation has gone up a notch. Before, it was about conflicts with rebels, today it is leaders who clash and use us. We are just collateral damage in their struggle for power.

How do you think this can end?

Unless diplomacy works – and I doubt it – it can only end with the defeat of one or the other. Neither of them will go back, it would mean losing, being weak and they will never accept that.

They have always claimed that they work for the country, for the people, but that is rubbish. They are doing all this for themselves, for their own interests, for their allies, not for us and certainly not for Sudan either!

► Read also Sudan: in Khartoum, civilians caught in the crossfire of the army and paramilitaries

Sudan: 'We are just collateral damage in their power struggle'

Sudan: 'We are just collateral damage in their power struggle'

Trends 24h

Latest