"RSF soldiers and other types of soldiers are trying to break into homes to loot and there [are] unconfirmed reports of sexual violence," says gender justice and democracy campaigner Hala Y Alkarib, who's been collecting testimony from friends and colleagues across the capital city, Khartoum.that she and others believe the RSF lacks a supply chain and is therefore relying on looting.
There is nobody to protect the people, she says,"because the Sudanese military and Sudanese police – both of them former partners of the RSF – are not quite oriented to provide or extend protections to civilians". With shops shut and power supplies intermittent at best, she says Khartoum's inhabitants are at high risk - because many on the outskirts rely"100% on the informal economy" and people living in the centre used to have to leave the city to be able to put food on the table but now can't:
Quote Message: There is nowhere to go, because it’s actually way more dangerous to step out because there is no safe routes, there is no instructions from the military, in terms of where to go. There is no hotlines, it’s extremely random. Some people are trying to leave the city but it’s extremely complex because, from what we’re hearing, there is also pockets of fighting that’s extending around Khartoum.
There is nowhere to go, because it’s actually way more dangerous to step out because there is no safe routes, there is no instructions from the military, in terms of where to go. There is no hotlines, it’s extremely random. Some people are trying to leave the city but it’s extremely complex because, from what we’re hearing, there is also pockets of fighting that’s extending around Khartoum."