There's blood in the Nile. The mighty river separating Sudan's capital city Khartoum has seen fighting erupt between two rival factions of the army. What could have been a quick internal flash-up between the main military factions, which have tenuously ruled this vast land since the 2021 military coup, has morphed into a bitter fight for power on the streets of the capital. More than 500 civilians have been killed in the crossfire, and foreign diplomatic, humanitarian workers and business people have been trying to flee the country.
Khartoum, Sudan's capital of 5 million, sits strategically alongside the confluence of the River Nile. It's here that both the Blue Nile emanating in Ethiopia's highlands and the White Nile sourced from Uganda's Lake Victoria combine into the mighty waterway flowing towards Egypt.
Why is this important? Sudan is one of Africa's largest countries; it borders seven other countries, themselves some of the continent's most unstable and poorest states; Ethiopia, Libya, Chad and South Sudan. Spillover from the conflict, be it refugees or further political instability, holds dangerous regional repercussions.
