The war in Sudan has cost up to 150,000 lives. Recently, the Sudanese army has made gains near the capital Khartoum. DW News Africa correspondent Mariel Müller was embedded with them and got rare access to the frontline of this war.
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00:00So this bridge used to be the front line just a few weeks ago.
00:03RSF snipers would have shot anyone trying to cross it,
00:06but since the army regained control of it, it's safe to move.
00:11Passing twisted cars, we're crossing over to North Khartoum,
00:15also called Bahri, on the other side of the bridge.
00:18We are embedded with the Sudanese army.
00:21That means we get to see what they want us to see.
00:25It took months of fierce fighting to clear this road
00:28and to push out the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.
00:33It is still littered with unexploded devices.
00:36Most people have fled.
00:42The army wants to show us how they are fighting the paramilitary RSF.
00:46Street by street, house by house.
00:49For security reasons, we are not allowed to disclose the colonel's identity.
00:53Six months ago, they were living in this house.
00:57A lot of them, a lot of them, more than thousands,
01:01staying here and all of these places.
01:05How often do you get attacked from RSF here?
01:07Two, three times in one day.
01:10We fight them, another street, another street.
01:13Every day, all of them, we are going to them.
01:17They run one or two streets.
01:21When do we come back?
01:23They come back again.
01:25And how long will it take, do you think, to push them out completely?
01:29I don't think it will take a lot of time.
01:32A few months is not more than that.
01:3520 minutes, 20 minutes.
01:38He checks for RSF positions.
01:43We're getting closer to the front line.
01:48There are them.
01:49These bullets are from this militias.
01:52We move on through stacks of furniture that the soldiers use for protection
01:57until we reach a position of the Sudanese army.
02:01So this is the observation point from the Sudanese army,
02:04the last observation point.
02:06And 500 meters into this direction is where the RSF is holding its position.
02:10As you can hear, there are gunshots right now.
02:14We have move.
02:16Good, good, good, good.
02:18Quick, quick, quick, quick.
02:31When you see that building,
02:34there are snipers who are in that building and shooting us.
02:38Someone killed?
02:40I was?
02:41A lot of, in this fire.
02:43All the killing will be with the snipers.
02:46Kill Sudanese soldiers and a lot of civilians.
02:54Estimates suggest up to 150,000 people have been killed in this war.
02:58But there has been no systematic recording because of the ongoing fighting.
03:03It could be many more than that.
03:05The RSF has been accused of being responsible for ethnic cleansing,
03:10rape, mass killings and other atrocities.
03:13And Sudan's army has been accused of indiscriminate attacks on civilians
03:17and denying food aid, effectively using starvation as a weapon of war.
03:23General Ibrahim Jaber denies that.
03:26National army, you know, and it follows all the rules and commitment by Geneva laws.
03:33This is a well-organized army of more than 100 years experience,
03:38so it cannot commit such things.
03:41The UN and rights groups say both sides, the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces,
03:46have committed grave human rights violations
03:49that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.