Thousands flee as war reaches Sudan’s second-largest city

Heavy fighting reported in Wad Madani, where thousands of displaced people had sought shelter.

Thousands of displaced people have fled the formerly safe city of Wad Madani in Sudan, as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reaches the city.

Paramilitary forces established a base in the east of Sudan’s second-largest city and the capital of al-Jazirah state, the AFP news agency reported on Sunday, forcing thousands of already displaced people to escape.

The RSF attack has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war, in what had previously been “one of Sudan’s few remaining sanctuaries”, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Sudan director William Carter.

Crowds of people – many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum – were seen packing up belongings and leaving on foot in videos posted on social media.

“The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told the Reuters news agency by phone.