Harrowing is the only word I have to describe what happened in Khartoum, three years after Sudan’s bloody conflict erupted in the capital.

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I was the first UK charity director to visit Khartoum since the Sudan crisis began. Access to the capital is highly restricted, however, as soon as we secured approval, I knew I had to visit to witness firsthand the epicentre of the Sudanese people’s latest struggle, so we set out on the 14-and-a-half-hour car journey to Khartoum. The destruction of the city is evidence itself that the international community has failed the Sudanese people.

When I arrived in Khartoum, a city with a population of 6.8 million people, I was stunned by how eerily quiet the streets were. No matter which area of the city we drove through, people were a rare sight, the deserted streets a stark reminder that we walked in the aftermath of a battleground. Every building bore the scars of the conflict, the ones that weren’t totally destroyed or burnt to the ground were either bombed out or riddled with bullet holes.

Women and children, like in many conflicts, have borne the brunt of the atrocities committed against civilians during this war, and Khartoum was no exception. I met a government minister in........

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