Sudan conflict: Hundreds of prisoners run for freedom in mass escape

Images showed the moment the incarcerated run, cheer and scream for their freedom and explode onto the streets of war-ravaged Khartoum as warring factions continue to tear the country apart.

The scenes of fleeing prisoners is suspected to been taken inside Khartoum‘s notorious Kober prison as they made a dash for freedom last weekend.

Other footage shows the recent escapees walking freely and confidently down streets.

Lurking among these prisoners were high-flying extremist Islamist officials from President Omar al-Bashir’s deposed government, who were ousted from power in a pro-democracy uprising in 2019.

For 30 years, al-Bashir waged a reign of terror over Sudan that landed him with arrests warrants from the International Criminal Court over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Notably, a high-ranking member of al-Bashir’s government Ahmed Haroun announced his own escape on Tuesday alongside other loyalists lieutenants of the Bashir-era.

Haroun, who is also wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity, urged all Sudanese to back the army in its campaign to seize total power from its militia rival – the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Other prisons have been damaged in the fighting or reportedly stormed by gunmen releasing a tide of lags onto Sudan‘s streets.

It is also troubling that the whereabouts of overthrown dictator Omar al-Bashir are still unknown.

Their escape and Haroun‘s comments have bolstered fears that the prisoners are being deliberately freed by the Sudanese army to sow further chaos in the country and rally shadow militias to their cause.

The army have denied involvement in the prison breaks and claim to be holding al-Bashir in a hospital. They then accused the RSF of freeing the prisoners, which they refuted.

Discussing the series of jailbreaks, UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said: “We’re very, very deeply alarmed by the prison breaks.”

“We’re very worried about the prospect of further violence, amid a generalised climate of impunity.”

The symbolism in releasing war criminals, Shamdasani said: “is at the root of what we are seeing today”.

“When you see continued impunity for serious violations … it emboldens the perpetrators.”

Tensions had long been building between the armed forces led by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary group RSF headed by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.

Together the two groups cooperated to aid the 2019 popular uprising against the 30-year despot but any dreams of freedom were dashed when the army and militia sized power together in 2021.

Sudan erupted into a full-blown war two weeks ago as the two powerful and heavily armed factions took to the streets to fight one another in yet another bloody jostle for power.

The conflict has left at least 528 dead, 4,500 wounded – which the UN believes is a “serious underestimate” – and tens of thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives.

In the capital, many residents are pinned down by urban warfare with scant food, fuel, water and power.

The fighting has also reawakened a two-decade-old ethnic conflict in the western Darfur region.

The war-weary area erupted into a bloody civil war in 2003 following al-Bashir‘s brutal put down of an uprising that left 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced.

On Sunday, the UK announced an extra evacuation flight from Port Sudan on Monday as over 2,122 people have been rescued in 23 flights.

The government announced the last flight for those trapped in Sudan after the deadline to make it to the evacuation flights expired on Saturday.