Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Recent

Sudan's capital of Khartoum is facing a clean drinking water crisis as worsening violent armed clashes between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces continue to rage on.

Over 17.3 million Sudanese people lacked access to clean drinking water even before the armed conflict broke out in April 2023, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. As a result, the outbreak of the fierce clashes has only exacerbated the situation.

Multiple facilities supplying water to the capital are damaged, and the lack of management personnel and repair parts has led to interruptions in the water supply network across various areas for several months, leaving hundreds of thousands of households without access to water. Some neighborhoods have been without water for nearly a year.

Local people are forced to use horse-drawn carriages or carts to travel to the Nile River to fetch water, and those who cannot fetch water themselves can only buy the untreated river water, which has become a valuable commodity. A small bucket of this untreated river water costs as much as 500 Sudanese pounds (about 0.85 U.S. dollars).

As the conflict in the capital has reached a stalemate, many water supply and power supply stations have become targets of armed forces. Some armed personnel have seized control of water supply stations and turned them into military bases, restricting their use or even shutting them down, making it more difficult for local people to obtain clean drinking water.

Although the country's annual rainy season has arrived, this will not alleviate local people's crisis. The heavy rain will lead to floods, which, coupled with the accumulation of untreated garbage and ineffective sewage treatment system in urban areas, may instead bring about serious infectious disease outbreaks such as typhoid and cholera.

Shotlist
Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Recent:
1. Street scene, vehicles;
2. Various of damaged buildings;
3. Resident fetching water from river;
4. Various of residents transporting, dispatching buckets of water;
Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Recent
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Hamad Al-Sir, local resident (starting with shot 4):
"Life is unbearable. Without access to clean drinking water, the whole family is struggling. What other choice do we have?";
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Musa, local resident:
"We have reached out to the local government repeatedly. The reason for the water outage in our neighborhood is that a nearby water supply station has stopped functioning. The staff are unable to restore its operation, because the armed personnel won't allow them to enter the station.";
FILE: Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Date Unknown
7. Various of waterlogging;
8. Various of garbage;
Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Recent
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Alshafea Adam, local resident:
"I hope the conflict will end soon. War is the greatest enemy of mankind. The Sudanese people have suffered too much already. I hope that one day we can restore our previous lives, with access to water and electricity, and everyone can work and live in peace.";
FILE: Metropolitan Area of Khartoum, Sudan - Date Unknown
10. Residents waiting to get water; buckets;
11. Various of resident carrying, transporting buckets of water.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland/Al-Arabiya TV/Middle East Broadcasting Center]