Battle for power in Sudan reignites conflict in Darfur

Geoff Bennett:

A pro-democracy regional governor was assassinated today in Sudan, as fighting intensifies between Sudan's armed forces and the rebel Rapid Support Forces.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed during two months of fighting. Nearly two million people have fled their homes, and hundreds of thousands of people have escaped to neighboring countries like Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. U.S.- and Saudi-led talks to broker an end to the war have so far failed.

Meantime, as Stephanie Sy tells us, nearly half of Sudan's remaining population is in dire humanitarian need.

Stephanie Sy:

Gunfire, explosions, men with guns now rule the Sudanese capital, these are the sounds and sights of civil war.

Khartoum is a city burning with thick plumes of smoke and violence everywhere. A power struggle between Sudan's armed forces and its rival faction, the Rapid Support Forces, has turned residential streets into war zones. Not even children are spared. The smallest coffins are the heaviest.

Last month, the state-run Al Mygoma Orphanage said nearly 70 children had died of fever and starvation, including two dozen babies.

Dr. Abdallah Adam, Mygoma Orphanage:

Sadly, I witnessed most of the their deaths and funerals. So, our message to the world, evacuate the orphans from Khartoum to a safe city with a safe pathway.

Stephanie Sy:

Nearly 300 children who survived at the orphanage were rescued by a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross. But 14 million children in Sudan remain trapped and in urgent need of lifesaving support.

Yet the warring factions attack hospitals and loot aid warehouses, further crippling essential infrastructure already on the brink of collapse. More than 70 percent of medical centers in Khartoum and adjoining cities have shut down since the war began.

Thousands have fled, Nada Elwasila.

Nada Elwasila, Escaped From Sudan:

It was terrible and terrifying, scary, the hours, the days that they went through, with all the sound of missiles and gunshot and screaming, and crying.

Stephanie Sy:

Elwasila, an American citizen, was trapped in Khartoum. She escaped with her 11-year-old daughter, Amira (ph), in a harrowing week-long journey to Port Sudan on the Red Sea and then to Saudi Arabia.

Nada Elwasila:

If you didn't roll down the window, the car window, real fast, they may kill you, shoot you. All my concern was my little girl. Like, I can fight until I get killed before they rape me. But what about her? What is going to happen if I die and she is on their hands?

Stephanie Sy:

It's been impossible to shield her daughter from the horrors of war.

Nada Elwasila:

They were two little girls got killed by missiles. And she saw that. I didn't mean to let her see that, but she didn't sleep all night. And she, like, was holding me and crying. Why they got killed? Why this war is going on? Why? What's going on in Sudan?

Stephanie Sy:

Here, another mother who fled for survival.

Muhjah Khateeb, Escaped From Sudan:

I realized Khartoum is not a safe place for us anymore.

Stephanie Sy:

Muhjah Khateeb once worked at a refugee camp in Khartoum and is now a refugee herself. She fled with her son Tijuba (ph) in South Sudan.

Muhjah Khateeb:

The health situation is so bad. I lost one of my relatives because of asthma, because she couldn't get a hospital.

Stephanie Sy:

She worries for those left behind.

Muhjah Khateeb:

Sudan is facing a starvation crisis. People in Khartoum are starving.

Stephanie Sy:

The power struggle in Khartoum has reignited the conflict in West Darfur. The very schools that were once shelters for the internally displaced have been burned to the ground.

Darfur is a state the size of Spain and Western Sudan bordering Chad. It has been the epicenter of conflict for over two decades. In 2003, interethnic violence was brutally crushed by the government-backed Janjaweed Arab militia, leaving 300,000 civilians dead.

The Janjaweed gave birth to the RSF, which, along with other Arab militias, is behind the recent and ongoing slaughter of civilians in Darfur.

The "NewsHour" received videos from local human rights activists from the worst-hit city of El Geneina late last month, before widespread power outages and communication blackouts isolated Darfur.

"This used to be a mosque. There are grave human rights violations," the man who shot this video says.

Satellite images confirm entire villages have been reduced to ashes, crucial civilian infrastructure, government buildings, courts and markets all destroyed.

Today, the governor of West Darfur, Khamis Abakar, was killed in El Geneina by the RSF. This video purportedly shows the moment he was taken. He had accused the group of genocide. Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed in Darfur. Getting information has been challenging, but, over the past two weeks, the "NewsHour" has been able to obtain pictures and audio messages from people trapped there.

Ayesha Yahya, Sudan (through translator):

There is a big catastrophe in West Darfur. We aren't able to find water to drink or food. We go five to six days without finding food to eat. Those who are injured have no hospitals to go to. We don't have any of the resources we need here in West Darfur.

Stephanie Sy:

The latest reports from Darfur-based activists warn of sexual violence and an acute health care crisis.

Abdel Monem Abdallah, Sudan:

WE were near El Geneina when the attacks started. We couldn't even find a midwife to deliver my pregnant sister.

Stephanie Sy:

This message came in Monday.

Jamal Abdallah Kahmis, Sudan (through translator):

Seventeen people are dead and 37 injured right around us. We're all confined to one area of less than a mile. The biggest crisis is that there's no food or medicines.

In hospitals, all surgeries have stopped for four days because of a lack of oxygen and anesthesia.

Stephanie Sy:

It's an SOS call.

Jamal Abdel, Sudan (through translator):

We have tried to send you photos and videos, but we weren't able to. The situation is very bad. The health situation is the worst. We hear of cases of cholera. We are in dire need of help. There's blood and filth and dead animals on the streets and the fires are always raging.

Stephanie Sy:

With international humanitarian organizations having no access to Darfur, at least 100,000 refugees have crossed the border on foot and horseback to Chad.

But with the rainy season approaching there and services strained in already crowded camps, it is far from a sanctuary.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.