Last Saturday at nine in the morning, Katharina von Schroeder and her eight-year-old son went to their school in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, as every week, to attend children's tennis classes. Ten other children were waiting there with their parents. Minutes later, they were all caught up in the war.
“The school was quite empty because it was the weekend,” he explained to this newspaper by phone, “and as soon as we arrived we heard the sound of explosions and shots and we took refuge inside the school. The fighting immediately spread to other places and the intensity of the shootings increased, so basically we saw that it was not a good idea to go out on the streets.
Since then, Von Schroeder and his son, both of German nationality, in addition to their classmates and other parents, have been trapped in a school in the capital, Khartoum, which hosts the worst clashes between the Sudanese army and the Support Forces paramilitary group. Fast (FAR).
The sudden eruption of the battle in Khartoum, which has left hundreds more isolated in public buildings or schools, although some have been able to be evacuated, pours in through von Schroeder's phone: the incessant sound of gunshots is heard as he speaks and explosions. “It's our third day at school, where we sleep on mattresses in the gym. We are pretty exhausted. We haven't even taken a shower but obviously that's not our priority, our top priority is trying to keep our children safe and calm."
For Von Schroeder, the worst is when the violence occurs near the school. "Yesterday morning and the day before yesterday the battle was very hard, heavy shelling and explosions were heard nearby, so we ran to the basement to protect ourselves. Civilians are not targeted but in situations like this logically there can be accidents. We are deeply concerned about the situation in Sudan.
Since his forced confinement, parents have organized to ration food from the school store and drinks from the cafeteria.
Although they have had a stroke of luck because the water continues to gush from the pipes, something that does not happen in many parts of the city, their main concern is managing the fear of the little ones.
“The good thing _-he explains- is that they are here with friends and they play together. At school there is a gym and they can play with the balls. There is something on the Internet and we can put videos on them, read them stories or talk to them, to try to entertain them and we try to keep them away from what is happening as much as possible, but logically the older children know that something is happening. But we try not to make them think too much about what is happening."
From her school shelter, Von Schroeder, who works in Sudan as Acting Director of Advocacy, Communication and Campaigns for Save the Children, denounces the terrible humanitarian impact that violence will have. "The fighting is spreading to other residential areas and provinces," she warns.
"In addition - he adds - to the victims of these days (almost 100 dead and 1,000 wounded, according to the Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors), the outbreak of the fighting occurs when Sudan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in its history, with conflicts, natural disasters, disease outbreaks and economic degradation that have caused 15.8 million people - approximately a third of the population and more than half of them children - to need humanitarian aid.
The conflict in Sudan is the result of a power struggle, which has escalated into a fight between rival military factions, between two of the country's most powerful generals, the current head of the Sudanese armed forces, AbdelFatah al-Burhan, and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, alias Hemedti, leader of the FAR, whose origin is the terrible Janjaweed militias that perpetrated dozens of atrocities in Darfur.
Both soldiers had joined forces in 2021, when they carried out a coup to end the democratic transition that was to give power to the people.
Despite that agreement to avoid ceding power to a civilian government, and thus lose economic privileges and be held accountable for their abuses, the rivalry between men-at-arms has erupted due to broad popular opposition, disagreement over how it should continue or not the transition to a civilian government and who will lead the armed forces; and the incorporation of the 100,000 FAR soldiers into the army.
For the Sudanese Mohammed Awad, director of the Al Yarida newspaper, the current violence is confined to a struggle for power between two men used to pulling the trigger. “What is happening in my country is not a civil war. It is a military war between two factions. Civil society is united and peaceful. Our young men have put Bashir in jail, so this is a crime, a clash between factions without civilian support. I think we will see the outcome in a few days."
