As fighting continues across Khartoum, residents trapped inside their homes are now turning on WhatsApp groups to crowd-source supplies.
Medical professionals are also uploading first-aid video tutorials, while others in the city of more than five million work together to provide any support they can.
Like many barricaded in their homes — avoiding windows for fear of gunfire — Twitter user Mujtaba Musa turned to social media, asking over 200,000 followers to “share calls for help” to “try to connect those in need.”
Since fighting erupted on Saturday, with fighter jets launching air strikes in the city and artillery fire in densely populated areas, civilians have become increasingly desperate as they face dwindling food supplies, power outages, and a lack of running water.
Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said on Thursday there was “no room” for negotiations with his rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The fighting has so far killed nearly 300 people, according to the United Nations health agency. But the toll is likely to be higher, with many bodies still lying uncollected in the streets.
Those who venture out for supplies risk getting caught in the crossfire. When some took advantage of a brief lull in the fighting to make their way out of Khartoum, they reported the streets were littered with dead bodies.
Interactive maps and live updates aim to guide those trying to evacuate through streets with no fighting. But all are carefully timestamped to the minute, as the situation can change rapidly.
Thousands flee Sudan’s capital as fighting enters fifth day
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Medics providing online services
With both doctors and patients unable to reach hospitals for treatment, medical professionals have also started uploading vital information to a website called Khartoum Medical.
It includes their location — assuming those in need can or are willing to move through the dangerous streets — as well as their contact details so they can speak to patients over the phone or via text.
With pharmacies closed since Saturday, it is not just those injured in the fighting needing help but also those unable to get their regular medication, such as insulin.
“We should find a pharmacist, create a (WhatsApp) group, and send him prescriptions,” Twitter user Khalid Saad suggested to his 80,000 followers.
Doctors warn of dangers to the health sector
Nabeel Arman, Secretary General of Sudan Doctor’s Union, labeled the situation “catastrophic.” He told the Associated Press that “airstrikes have targeted hospitals” and “shrapnel from machine guns” have caused hospitals in the capital Khartoum and other states to “go out of service.”
“The worst thing that is happening is the pile-up of bodies in the streets, in addition to the water cuts, which compound the environmental, health, and humanitarian risks.”
Some hospitals have shut down because they’re overwhelmed, while others were swiftly taken over as attack bases and have become launch pads for both sides, according to Arman.
Abdalla Hussein, Programme Manager for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said the fighting had disrupted MSF’s operations in various parts of the country.
“We cannot go to the programs we were running before. We are mostly suspended except in a few places, like in the east and the Blue Nile.”
Sudan must provide humanitarian space: ICRC’s Alyona Synenko
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Arman has called on both sides to stop the fighting and provide more protection for humanitarian workers.
“First thing, stop the gunfire and no to the war, and there must be real safe humanitarian corridors on the ground,” he said.
Foreign students stranded
Kenya plans to evacuate about 3,000 of its citizens living in Sudan — including 400 students — in the event of a ceasefire.
“We have a big problem in Sudan. Bombing is escalating, we have about 3000 Kenyans stuck in Sudan, and they are scared; they are in their homes,” Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua said.
“We’ve talked to Kenya Airways, and they are ready if things get out of hand to bring Kenyans back here.”
Tanzania also has at least 210 nationals stranded in Sudan, of which 171 are students, according to Tanzania’s minister for foreign affairs, Stergomena Lawrence Tax
“We have called on them to stop the fighting as soon as possible and to use peaceful means, because war does not benefit anyone,” she said.
“We will continue to look at this situation: If the fighting is stopped, there might be no reason for our citizens to leave.”
Trapped Nigerian students have called on their government to repatriate them back home via social media platforms.
“We hereby write soliciting and yearning for the Nigerian government’s intercession to rescue and send for an immediate evacuation of the Nigerian students that are stuck in the center of the ongoing war,” the National Association of Nigerian Students in Sudan (NANSS) said in a letter the group shared on Twitter.
Kenya’s president William Ruto, who is among mediators tasked with brokering peace in Sudan, on Wednesday called for an end to the fighting in the country, warning it could destabilize the region.
“It is time to silence the guns in our region and continent so that we can focus on the urgent work of enabling our people to pursue opportunities and actualize their aspirations in peace and tranquility. Time is of the essence,” he said.
Edited by Ineke Mules
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/sudan-trapped-civilians-mobilize-relief-online/a-65385483?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf