Barbara Plett-Usher
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
And the North Darfur health minister has also said that people who were injured weren't able to get to the nearby city of Al-Fasher. If you remember, that's the city that's under siege by the RSF. He says the RSF is blocking the road. Although hospitals in Al Fasher have also either been shut down or damaged in the long siege.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
In terms of damage in the camp, it seems as if there was quite extensive damage to the market. That's what we're told. And there are also videos on social media which show smouldering ruins, which we are working at the moment at getting verified.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
Well, an RSF spokesman I contacted actually denied that the fighters had penetrated the camp. He said they had seized a military base near the camp, which belongs to a group called the Joint Forces. This is an armed group that fights alongside the Sudanese military, and he said it had been shelling RSF checkpoints for days.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
An eyewitness told us that the Joint Forces had confronted the RSF in the camp, but he said they arrived after the attack to respond to it.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
We might be, broadly speaking. The army has made some significant gains in central Sudan recently. It recaptured the key city of Wad Medini and it has gained control of Jazeera State, which is a strategic state. And now it's closing in on Khartoum from the south.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
and has already reclaimed some regions of the capital city from the RSF, in particular Khartoum Behrie, and it's advancing to the centre of the city. It's not clear how much resistance they'll face, whether they'll get street-to-street fighting, or whether there will still be prolonged battles, or whether they will have a victory soon.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
Not really, no. I mean, you know, before the war, there were about... 100,000, 200,000, it's not entirely clear, people in Zamzam who had been displaced by previous conflicts in Darfur. And the number has really swelled since the civil war. And so you even had people from al-Fasher coming to Zamzam because the fighting there is so intense.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
So if they're going to be displaced again, and according to reports, there was an exodus of quite a large number of people because of the fighting, it's not clear where they can go.
Global News Podcast
Sudan fighters accused of storming famine-hit camp
In terms of the casualties, it's really hard to get a clear picture. We don't really have information about numbers or injuries or deaths. What we have heard is that the injured are having a hard time getting treatment because the hospital in Zamzam no longer does surgeries.