THE death of a well-known actress, killed in cross-fire in the north of Khartoum, has shocked residents of Sudan’s capital. But she is just one of many civilians still in the city who are paying with their lives as the fighting continues to rage despite the latest ceasefire.
Zeinab Mohammed Salih is a journalist living in Omdurman, next to the Sudanese capital – she describes daily life for people caught up in the conflict.
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Asia Abdelmajid, who was born in 1943, was famous for her theatre performances – first coming to prominence in a production of the play Pamseeka 58 years ago.
It was put on at the national theatre in Omdurman to mark the anniversary of Sudan’s first revolution against a coup leader. She was considered a pioneer of the stage – and the country’s first professional stage actress, later retiring to become a teacher.
Her family say she was buried within hours of her shooting on Wednesday morning in the grounds of a kindergarten where she had been most recently working. It was too dangerous to take her to a cemetery.
It is not clear who fired the shot that killed her in the clashes in the northern suburb of Bahri. But paramilitary fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who are ensconced in their bases in residential areas across the city, continue to battle the army, which tends to attack from the air.
The RSF says the military tried to deploy members of the police’s special force unit on Wednesday – but the group alleges it rebuffed their ground offensive.
The UN’s top aid official has warned that the “will to end the fight still was not there” after speaking to Sudan’s rival military leaders.
