Sudan’s army and a paramilitary force battled on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday, undermining a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear could revive the influence of ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his loyalists.
Fuelling concerns about a possible rehabilitation of Bashir’s standing, the army confirmed his transfer from Khartoum’s Kober prison to a military hospital, along with at least five of his former officials, before hostilities started on April 15.
Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 512 people, wounded nearly 4,200, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of the 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid.
The White House said a second American had died in Sudan.
Foreigners fleeing Khartoum have described bodies littering streets, buildings on fire, residential areas turned into battlefields and youths roaming with large knives.
“It was horrible,” said Thanassis Pagoulatos, the 80-year old Greek owner of the Acropole hotel in Khartoum, after arriving in Athens to the embrace of emotional relatives.
“It has been more than 10 days without any electricity, without water, and five days nearly without food,” he added, describing shooting and bombing. “Really, the people are suffering, the Sudanese people.”
The World Health Organization said only 16% of health facilities were functioning in Khartoum and predicted “many more deaths” due to disease and shortages of food, water and medical services including immunization.
Over the weekend, thousands of inmates were freed outright from prison, including a former minister in Bashir’s government who, like him, is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
At least one other of the group transferred to hospital is wanted by the ICC.
