Hospitals, places of worship destroyed as month-long war continues to rage throughout Sudan

Violent clashes continue to rage across Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, disrupting civilian facilities and residential spaces in cities nationwide on Monday, a month after the bloody conflict broke out.

The RSF attacked hospitals and places of worship in Khartoum on Monday, while also attacking the West Darfur city of Geneina and the North Kordofan city of Rashad.

In an attempt to stifle the RSF, armed forces leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan froze bank accounts affiliated with the militia. He also purged a number of high-ranking military and civilian officials in recent days.

Clashes between the military and RSF broke out in April and have developed into a bloody war, leading to over 800 civilian deaths and thousands of injuries, the destruction of homes and hospitals, soaring prices and network outages. Thousands of Sudanese nationals have fled from cities in Sudan, with some seeking refuge in neighboring countries, including Egypt, creating a mounting humanitarian crisis at the border where basic goods and medical services are in short supply.

A peace deal remains elusive, with the direct talks in Jeddah between the two sides producing no tangible steps toward a lasting ceasefire after nearly two weeks.

Attacks on hospitals and places of worship in capital

Khartoum’s East Nile Hospital was set ablaze and eyewitnesses described the facility as completely destroyed on Monday.

The site and its surroundings are under RSF control, including one of the Nile bridges leading westward to Khartoum. However, neither the military nor the RSF claimed to have undertaken military operations in the area leading to the damage and destruction witnessed Monday. 

Sites of worship were also targeted in the capital, with unidentified armed men attacking a Christian Orthodox church in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman on Monday, leaving several wounded, a number of them in critical condition.

The RSF also seized the cathedral in the center of Khartoum on Monday, while in the same area, church sources told Mada Masr that a military force affiliated with the RSF evacuated the Church of the Virgin Mary near the presidential palace and turned it into a military headquarters.

According to the church official, the militia, which is deployed around the presidential palace on Nile Street in Khartoum, has been demanding that priests evacuate the sites of worship, though priests have tried to resist the pressure thus far. A large number of gunmen entered the church headquarters on Sunday, said one church official, adding that they forced all those inside to leave the place immediately. The building houses the Coptic Orthodox Archdiocese, which is the main administrative headquarters for Coptic Christians in Khartoum.

Buildings belonging to the Episcopal church in Khartoum’s 1st Street were also seized by the RSF on Tuesday, with the paramilitary breaking down doors to storm the building and seize it for use as a strategic site, said a statement released by the church.

A vehicle belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Khartoum was also stolen at gunpoint, the statement added. 

Bloody clashes in Geneina

Days of bloody clashes left hundreds dead and wounded and ravaged the landscape of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, until a relative calm resumed Monday.

Over the past four years, West Darfur State has witnessed continued armed fighting that has killed over a thousand people and displaced tens of thousands, while state forces have remained largely absent from the scene.

Armed militias departed the city Monday, General Coordination of Darfur Displaced People and Refugees spokesperson Adam Rajjal told Mada Masr, adding that there is still an influx of militias coming into the area from the border with Chad.

The RSF-affiliated militias are pursuing a scorched-earth policy and leaving destruction in their wake, Raggal said, though he said their ambition could also ultimately be to control the border city. 

Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles and SUVs attacked several neighborhoods in Geneina starting at dawn on Friday, said an official in the state government for West Darfur told Mada Masr. Attacks focused on certain neighborhoods, including shelters for the state’s thousands of internally displaced people.

"The number of dead and wounded has not been definitively counted so far due to the continuation of the battles," while a medical source in West Darfur state told Mada Masr 280 people were reported killed and 500 injured by Geneina Teaching Hospital. Other civilians who died or were wounded at home are yet to be counted.

An activist in the city likewise stated that residential neighborhoods in Geneina were attacked, noting that this violated an agreement to disengage civil groups. Indiscriminate gunfire rang out across the neighborhood and homes were set alight leading to a large number of deaths and injuries. Some of the armed militias attacking the city were dressed in RSF uniforms and traveling in SUVs while others were mounted troops, the activist said. 

A house belonging to a local official in Geneina was razed to the ground during the violence, eyewitnesses said, while another resident of the city said that the clashes spread to the government secretariat.

Armed forces vehicles then entered the fray and the army responded with artillery fire, some of which fell within civilian neighborhoods.

Raggal likewise said that the army made limited interventions on Sunday.

RSF attacks Rahad

Residents in the city of Rahad, North Kordofan, said that a military force affiliated with the RSF stormed the city on Monday.

According to eyewitnesses who spoke to Mada Masr, the RSF targeted a number of government institutions before seizing a number of cars, in addition to capturing a group of police officers. Troops also seized ammunition from the city's main section, burned the city's general court building, and looted the main market, leading to chaos.

Citizens reported to Mada Masr that they had spotted military convoys along the 30-km road linking the cities of Rahad and Obeid since last week.

Burhan freezes RSF accounts, dismisses military figures, central bank governor

Sudanese Armed Forces Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has issued several decisions since Sunday, shaking up key military and civilian posts and freezing bank accounts affiliated with the RSF.

Four high-ranking officers were ordered to retire on Sunday by Burhan, including the head of the Armed Forces Jeddah delegation, Brigadier General Omar Hamdan Ahmed Hammad and the head of operations Major General Osman Mohamed Hamed Mohamed.

At the outset of the conflagration, Burhan dissolved the RSF and classified the paramilitary as a rebel force, while official decisions ensued on Monday, according to the official military spokesperson, to terminate the appointment of all military officers working within the Rapid Support Forces.

Burhan also replaced the governor of Sudan’s central bank on Sunday, and followed suit with the director general of the police and fired two foreign ministry ambassadors on Monday.

Bank accounts belonging to the Rapid Support Forces and their companies were also frozen in Banks in Sudan and their branches abroad in decisions issued Sunday.