RSF bombing forces Omdurman civilians to flee
October 16, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The number of residents fleeing their homes in North Omdurman has increased in recent weeks due to intensified shelling by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The RSF has been targeting populated areas, including Karari locality, which is the only area in Omdurman that is still inhabited.
Many residents of Omdurman and Bahri have fled to Karari, which is located in northern Omdurman. However, in recent weeks, the RSF has intensified its military operations in Karari, heavily bombarding most neighbourhoods with heavy artillery and missiles. This has led to the killing of large numbers of civilians and forced some of them to leave their homes for fear of being targeted.
On September 28, at least nine civilians were killed, and others were injured in an artillery shelling by the RSF that targeted a transport station in the Al-Jarafa area. On October 13, 17 people were killed in a bombing that targeted several neighbourhoods. Al-Nao Hospital, the only medical facility operating in Omdurman, was targeted at least twice this month, killing four patients.
The RSF is bombing army bases deployed in the Karari locality, starting from the Omdurman and Khartoum Bahri neighbourhoods. They target army camps and military bases, most notably the Wadi Saydna military area and its military airport, from which warplanes take off to bomb the RSF in the three cities of Khartoum. They are also targeting the headquarters of the Military College and the Military Prison, the Military Press, the 9th Airborne Division, Karary University, and others.
Neighbourhoods 50, 52, and 29, along with the eighth and 29th neighbourhoods, are among the areas that have witnessed a high wave of displacement during the last period, as they have been exposed to violent artillery shelling.
Moamen Abu Al-Azaim, a journalist and resident of Al-Thawra, told Sudan Tribune that life in Al-Thawra of Karari locality has become unsafe. He said that residents live on their nerves, and a stray bullet or random bombing can change the life of an entire family.
He added that what most forces residents to stay is the trade-off between the hammer of the hell of war and the anvil of high rental prices in other states.
He pointed out that the indiscriminate bombing of populated residential areas by the RSF is considered a crime against humanity and a war crime.
He continued, “The bombing has increased in the recent period, reaching 100 shells per day in various areas of Al-Thawra near the military zone, specifically the northern countryside, which includes the neighbourhoods of Al-Waha, Al-Manara, Dalbakhit, and Al-Jarafa.”
He said that all Al-Thawra neighbourhoods are under bombardment, but the first and second neighbourhoods are the most damaged. He said that the RSF targets the neighbourhoods for two reasons: the first is that the entire area is under the army’s control, and the second is that they bomb inhabited neighbourhoods until they force the residents to leave and seize homes and use them as barracks.
Abu Al-Azaim said, “The indiscriminate bombing of the Rapid Support militias takes away our neighbours and relatives daily, and homes and health and service institutions, represented by electricity, hospitals, and water stations, were destroyed, the last of which is Al-Nu Hospital, the only medical facility still in service.”
He stressed that the suffering of citizens increased as they lost their families and neighbours, and their lives became at risk, making displacement outside the state an unavoidable necessity. He revealed that the number of displaced people in the north has clearly increased in the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, Rawiya Osman, who was displaced with her family from Al-Salha, south of Omdurman, to Al-Thawra 29, told Sudan Tribune that she was forced to leave Karari locality last week for the Nile River State after a three-month stay due to random shells falling.
“My husband lost his leg after being hit by a missile, and one of my children was seriously injured in the chest and face. We preferred to stay here in Khartoum for fear of the high cost of residential rents in the states, but the repeated targeting during the last period forced us to leave,” she added.
In turn, Mustafa Babiker, a member of the local emergency room in Karari, accused the RSF of deliberately targeting populated areas with heavy weapons.
He told Sudan Tribune that the paramilitary forces deliberately fire missiles into the neighbourhoods to force residents to move, which makes it easier for them to occupy homes after looting them and turning them into military barracks from which they launch their attacks towards the military zone in Karari.
(ST)