Current:Home > NewsSudan’s conflict reaches a key city that had been a haven for many. Aid groups suspend work or flee-InfoLens
Sudan’s conflict reaches a key city that had been a haven for many. Aid groups suspend work or flee
View Date:2024-12-23 19:40:06
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s deadly conflict between a powerful paramilitary force and the army has reached a strategic city that had been a haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced people, and key humanitarian groups say they have been forced to suspend work there or flee.
On Tuesday, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the Rapid Support Forces, announced that they had taken the city of Wad Medani about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Khartoum. The claim could not be independently verified.
Since the start of the conflict, the city had been governed by the army, headed by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and was a key hub for humanitarian organizations largely removed from the front lines of the fighting.
The military didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The army and RSF have been fighting for control of Sudan since April, when tensions boiled over into street battles concentrated in the capital but also occurring in other areas including the western Darfur region.
Over the past two months, the RSF has appeared to take the upper hand, with its fighters making advances eastwards across Sudan’s central belt.
The conflict began encroaching on Wad Medani early this month as RSF troops advanced. The Red Cross spokesperson for Africa, Alyona Synenko, told The Associated Press that fighting intensified in the vicinity of the city on Friday, prompting the aid group to withdrew its staff from the area.
Gasin Amin Oshi, who has close relatives in the city, said the RSF entered on Monday. Speaking by phone from Dubai, he said his family fled the city hours later.
Before the conflict, the city was home to several hundred thousand people.
According to the United Nations humanitarian office, at least 250,000 people have recently fled Jazeera state, where Wad Medani is the capital.
“Aid organizations have been forced to temporarily suspend operations because of the fighting,” spokesman Jens Laerke told a U.N. briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
The eight-month conflict has killed up to 9,000, according to the U.N., but local doctors groups and activists say the death toll is likely far higher.
veryGood! (27833)
Related
- Zendaya Shares When She Feels Extra Safe With Boyfriend Tom Holland
- Are earthquakes happening more? What to know if you're worried and how to stay safe.
- Delayed homicide autopsies pile up in Mississippi despite tough-on-crime-talk
- Imprisoned Kremlin foe Navalny refuses to leave his cell and skips a court hearing as a protest
- Certifying this year’s presidential results begins quietly, in contrast to the 2020 election
- Cincinnati Zoo employee hospitalized after she's bitten by highly venomous rattlesnake
- Russia taking heavy losses as it wages new offensive in Ukraine
- 40 years after Beirut’s deadly Marines bombing, US troops again deploying east of the Mediterranean
- Should Georgia bench Carson Beck with CFP at stake against Tennessee? That's not happening
- Football provides a homecoming and hope in Lahaina, where thousands of homes are gone after wildfire
Ranking
- Indiana in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings? You've got to be kidding
- A price cap on Russian oil aims to starve Putin of cash. But it’s largely been untested. Until now
- Autoworkers strike at Stellantis plant shutting down big profit center, 41,000 workers now picketing
- The Book Report: Washington Post critic Ron Charles (October 22)
- 'Yellowstone's powerful opening: What happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton?
- Authorities search for two boaters who went missing in Long Island Sound off Connecticut
- Writer Salman Rushdie decries attacks on free expression as he accepts German Peace Prize
- US renews warning it will defend treaty ally Philippines after Chinese ships rammed Manila vessels
Recommendation
-
Benny Blanco Reveals Selena Gomez's Rented Out Botanical Garden for Lavish Date Night
-
John Stamos says he caught ex Teri Copley cheating on him with Tony Danza: 'My worst nightmare'
-
Pilots on a regional passenger jet say a 3rd person in the cockpit tried to shut down the engines
-
Man charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after threat on Alaska Airlines flight
-
Mississippi Valley State football player Ryan Quinney dies in car accident
-
Deal to force multinational companies to pay a 15% minimum tax is marred by loopholes, watchdog says
-
Australians’ rejection of the Indigenous Voice in constitutional vote is shameful, supporters say
-
How long before a phone is outdated? Here's how to find your smartphone's expiration date