Like the others, the umpteenth truce announced in Sudan has fizzled out. About twenty civilians were killed Wednesday in a bombing attributed to the army on a market in Khartoum, the capital, leading Thursday to a hardening of tone on the side of the White House. On Monday evening, the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo had agreed to a new truce. In response to this new violation of a ceasefire, Washington announced economic sanctions and visa restrictions "against actors who fuel violence" in Sudan, but did not name them.



"Sanctions are a tool," agrees researcher Alex de Waal. But Sudan, under U.S. sanctions for two decades, represents "a classic case of sanctions that have never solved anything," he said. Because the two warring generals are elusive: General Daglo is considered one of the richest men in Sudan thanks to his empire of gold mines and General Burhane, like all his peers, has developed techniques under the embargo to circumvent international sanctions.

More than 1,800 dead and more than a million displaced

After the bombing of the Khartoum market, the "resistance committee", which organizes mutual aid between the inhabitants of the neighborhood, denounced a "catastrophic situation", launching an "urgent" appeal for "doctors and blood donations".

At the same time, the RSF was shooting at civilians "who wanted to prevent them from stealing the car of one of them," the committee said. "Three civilians died after being hit by bullets and prevented by the RSF from going to hospital."

The fighting has left more than 1,800 dead according to the NGO ACLED, and more than a million people, mainly Sudanese but also refugees in Sudan, are displaced in the country.

In addition, more than 350,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries. More than 100,000 people are in Chad, according to the UN, driven out by deadly fighting in Darfur, across the border, where entire regions are totally cut off from the world, without electricity or telephone. In this region, new calls to arm civilians raise fears of a "total civil war", according to the civilian bloc ousted from power by the 2021 putsch of the two generals then allies.

Humanitarian aid prevented

According to UNICEF, more than 13.6 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, including "620,000 who are acutely malnourished, half of whom could die if not helped in time". Yet no corridors have been cleared for humanitarian aid. The few cargoes that have been able to be transported cover only a tiny part of the immense needs. On Thursday, the director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Cindy McCain, denounced "the attack on its warehouses in El-Obeid", 350 km south of Khartoum, threatening stocks of "vital" food for "4.4 million people".

Even before the war, one in three Sudanese suffered from hunger, long power cuts were daily and the health system was on the brink of collapse.

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