A view of the damage surrounding Al-Shaab Teaching Hospital following intense clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum,Sudan,on 29 March. One of the country's largest healthcare institutions,Al-Shaab Teaching Hospital,suffered heavy damage due to its proximity to the army headquarters. (Mohammed Nzar Awad/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sudan's war began in April 2023 between army chief Burhan and RSF leader Daglo,partitioning the country by regions. The war caused immense civilian suffering: over 150 000 deaths,mass displacement,and famine affecting 25 million people. Healthcare collapsed,with 90% of hospitals in conflict zones closed and attacks on health facilities killing 78 workers.
Sudan entered its third year of war on Tuesday,with no sign of respite for war-weary civilians.
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Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 13 million uprooted in what the United Nations calls the world's largest hunger and displacement crisis.
Here is a snapshot of where things stand:
The battle lines
On 15 April 2023,a bitter power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo,who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF),erupted into an all-out war.
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For a year and a half,the RSF rampaged across western and central Sudan,and the army retreated to the east,relocating the government from Khartoum to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
In November 2024,the army,with its ranks replenished and its arsenal rebuilt,launched an offensive from the east,retaking central Sudan.
In March,Burhan announced the capital,Khartoum,was "free" of the RSF,cementing his upper hand.
The RSF has since ramped up its attacks in Darfur,launching a fierce assault on El-Fasher - the last state capital in the vast western region still held by the regular army.
Uganda military forces deployed in South Sudan as tensions between President Salva Kiir and his First Vice President Riek Machar increased. (Glody Murhabazi/AFP)
Full paramilitary control of Darfur would cement the partition of Sudan,with the army holding the north and east and the RSF holding the west and,with its allies,parts of the south.
Staggering human toll
The war has been marked by horrific violence against civilians but also by a lack of confirmed death tolls.
In Khartoum alone,more than 61 000 people died during the first 14 months of war,among them 26 000 from direct violence,according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Washington's former Sudan envoy,Tom Perriello,said in May last year some estimates for the overall death toll were as high as 150 000.
READ |Sudan talks in London to find way to end brutal conflict
Both sides have been accused of deliberately targeting civilians,looting homes and obstructing life-saving aid.
Hunger is tightening its grip,with famine declared last year in five regions across the country,including three major displacement camps in Darfur and parts of the south.
According to the United Nations,eight million people are currently on the brink of all-out famine,while nearly 25 million - around half the population - face acute hunger.
Healthcare system destroyed
Once fragile,Sudan's health infrastructure is now in tatters.Nearly 90 % of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are out of service,according to official data,either damaged by shelling,stormed by fighters or empty of staff and supplies.
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Since the war began,at least 78 health workers have been killed by gunfire or shelling at their homes or workplaces,according to the doctors' union.
By October last year,the World Health Organisation had recorded 119 attacks on health facilities.Both warring sides have been implicated in such attacks.
United News - unews.co.za