Sudanese military launch new offensive in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens
Sudan's military has launched a new air offensive in its capital Khartoum, as a cholera outbreak in the country continues to worsen.
Airstrikes and drones rocked the city in the early hours of Thursday morning in a bid by the Sudanese military to take control of parts captured by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Four civilians were killed and 14 others were injured in the latest fighting in Khartoum's Karrari district, according to Mohamed Ibrahim, a health ministry spokesperson.
A military spokesman confirmed the operation was underway, but declined to comment further.
The escalation comes as the head of Sudan’s military, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, is expected to address the United Nations’ General Assembly on Thursday.
At least 78 civilians have been killed by artillery shelling and airstrikes in Khartoum since the beginning of September, according to Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the UN human rights office in Geneva.
“Our immediate concern is for the welfare of civilians, and the likelihood of further displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure," he said.
Some of the worst fighting between the two forces in the past few months has taken place in the city of El Fasher, the capital of the state of North Darfur.
On Thursday, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that artillery shelling on a market in El Fasher had killed at least 20 civilians on September 20 and 21.
Meanwhile, Sudan's health ministry has seen the number of people reported to have died from a cholera outbreak jump by nearly 20% in two days.
A total of 473 people have died from cholera since the country’s rainy season began two months ago, health officials said.
The majority of cases were reported in Kassala, where UNICEF is collaborating with the ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to carry out a second round of the oral cholera vaccination campaign that began last week.
UNICEF delivered 404,000 doses of the vaccine to Sudan on September 9, with more vaccination campaigns expected to be rolled out across the country.
The cholera outbreak was officially declared on August 12 by the health ministry, and is spreading in areas affected by heavy rainfall and flooding.
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Such weather conditions have impacted eastern Sudan, where millions of people displaced by the conflict were sheltering.
Fighting between the Sudanese military led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary wing known as the Rapid Support Forces, fronted by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, began in April 2023.
The conflict created the world’s largest displacement crisis with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in June.
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