Carnage in Khartoum

Khartoum has seen some of the worst fighting, in many parts of the city, deadly impact of conflict is clearly visible

The humanitarian disaster in Sudan is about to get worse, with medical experts and rights groups warning that the corpses of thousands of people killed in the conflict between two wings of the country’s military are now becoming disease vectors. The situation is further compounded by the fact that the warring parties have also destroyed much of the water and sanitation infrastructure in the conflict zones. Also, while some of the corpses are piling up in streets, urban areas such as Khartoum — the country’s capital and most developed region — have seen morgues lose power supply, causing even bodies in cold storage to decay and create new health hazards.

Even before the latest destructive conflict, the war-torn nation has regularly endured outbreaks of cholera and other diseases associated with weak healthcare systems and poor sanitation. On that note, medical experts cannot say with certainty if the country is already amid a cholera outbreak because public health laboratories are all damaged or non-functioning, while only about 20% of hospitals are operational.

Khartoum has seen some of the worst fighting, and in many parts of the city, the deadly impact of the conflict is clearly visible. Even electricity and water are being rationed by the government, as supplies become increasingly unreliable. As for security, a recent report suggests people are afraid to bury their dead, lest they get caught up in the fighting on the way to a graveyard. Medical workers are literally risking their lives when they go out to save lives, as doctors and nurses have also been targeted for daring to truthfully lay blame for the violence.

The situation is even worse in a few less developed areas, which had very little health and sanitation infrastructure, to begin with. Like medical workers, aid groups are risking their lives to help in such areas, but they are often unable to because of damaged supply lines. Meanwhile, the generals fighting over control of the resource-rich country continue to ignore the suffering their lust for power is inflicting on their fellow citizens.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2023.

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