A civilian resident in Sudan’s capital Khartoum has told how paramilitaries threatened her with rape and held her family at gunpoint as they looted her home.

The unnamed woman lives in a suburb near a central Rapid Support Forces (RSF) base and bordered by the city’s main airport and military headquarters.

These are key battlegrounds in the fight for power between Sudan‘s army and the strongest armed force in the country.

Just five minutes from Khartoum’s Military Command Compound, the home, containing three generations of the same family, has been frequently shaken from airstrikes and has been ambushed by RSF officers hunting for food, water and money.

“They shot at the house and then stormed the kitchen and pointed the gun at us,” she told Sky News.

“They screamed at the top of their lungs, banging the windows when we didn’t reply.”

She managed to run from the troops to find her young baby, parents and siblings in the house.

Her father and husband negotiated with the group of 40 men and they eventually left after taking water and food.

More Rapid Support Forces have passed by their home since to stock up on supplies.

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“All our family members in the area are leaving food and water close to their front door to appease them so they don’t come in guns blazing,” she added.

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The same homeowner has said Rapid Support Forces officers have previously broken into her home to steal her belongings – including alcohol and food – and threatened to rape her if they came back.

Fears are mounting of more looting and evictions as the gunfire and airstrikes continue.

Both the army and Rapid Support Forces publicly declared their approval of a 24-hour ceasefire but residents broke their Ramadan fast to the sound of gunfire in the first moments of the window.

The civil war scenario that has haunted Sudan’s civilians is playing out in the skies and on the ground in the capital.

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