The army and the paramilitary forces are locked in a new and ruinous battle for territory across the northeast African nation.
Hundreds of people, including dozens of children, have been killed in Sudan in recent days, according to civilian witnesses, medical workers and the United Nations, as fierce clashes have escalated in an internal conflict that is approaching its third year.
The war between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has unleashed a wave of devastation across Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people, forcing millions to flee their homes and pushing parts of the vast nation deeper into famine.
“The citizens are currently living in a state of panic,” said Asim Ahmed Musa, 29, an activist in Kadugli city in South Kordofan state, where dozens were killed this week. “People are scared.”
In the capital, Khartoum, and adjoining cities, the region of Darfur in the west, and across several other states, the ruinous war is escalating as the warring parties strive to solidify their territorial claims, regain new ones and secure strategic military and civilian sites.
The conflict has been marked by gross atrocities and ethnically motivated killings, prompting investigations from the International Criminal Court and accusations of genocide from the United States.
In recent weeks, the army has amped its offensive to retake significant parts of the capital, which it lost when the war started in April 2023. The conflict has slowly been heating up since late last year after the end of the rainy season. With the escalating deaths, injuries and attacks on civilians, activists have been calling on the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping mission in the country.