Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group fought for a second straight day on Sunday for control of the shattered country
Post Date – 11:30 PM, Sunday – 4/16/23
Thick smoke billows above the residential buildings in Khartoum (AFP photo)
Khartoum: Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary group battled for control of the troubled country for a second day on Sunday, suggesting that despite mounting diplomatic pressure for a ceasefire they are still not Desiring an end to hostilities.
Violent battles between armored vehicles, vehicle-mounted machine guns and warplanes erupted Sunday in the capital Khartoum, the neighboring city of Omdurman and flashpoints across the country.
Rival forces are believed to have tens of thousands of fighters each in the capital alone.
A group of doctors said at least 56 civilians had been killed and believed dozens more were killed among rival forces.
The Sudanese Medical Association said nearly 600 people were injured, including civilians and combatants.
The clashes end months of heightened tension between the military and its partners-turned-rivals
Quick support troops.
Those tensions have delayed reaching an agreement with political parties to return the country to a short-lived democratic transition that was derailed by a military coup in October 2021.
In Khartoum and Omdurman, fighting was reported around military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and state television headquarters.
RSF fighters clashed with troops at military headquarters early Sunday and a fire broke out at a ground force facility, a senior military official said.
“The fighting has not stopped,” said Tahani Abass, a prominent rights advocate who lives near the military headquarters.
“They were shooting at each other in the street. It was an all-out war in the neighborhood.” Abbas said her family huddled up on the ground floor of their home all night.
“Nobody was able to sleep, the children were crying and screaming every time there was an explosion,” she said. She heard gunshots during an interview with The Associated Press.
Both the military and the Rapid Support Forces claim control of strategic locations in Khartoum and elsewhere in the county. Their claims could not be independently verified.
Later Saturday, both sides expressed their reluctance to negotiate.
The military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, has called for the disbandment of the RSF, which it has dubbed a “rebel militia”. General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the RSF, told satellite news network Al Arabyia that he ruled out negotiations. Dagalo called on Burhan to surrender.
Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure appears to be mounting.
Top diplomats, including the U.S. secretary of state, the U.N. secretary-general, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, the head of the League of Arab States and the head of the African Union Commission, urged both sides to stop the fighting.
Members of the UN Security Council were divided over other crises around the world, calling for an immediate end to hostilities and a return to dialogue.
Arab states with interests in Sudan – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have made similar calls.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he had consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“We agree that there must be an immediate and unconditional end to hostilities on both sides,” he said in a statement earlier Sunday.
Rival forces are fighting at multiple sites across Sudan, including in West Darfur, where tens of thousands of people live in camps for displaced people after years of genocidal civil war.
Adam Regal, a spokesman for a charity in Darfur, said dozens of people had been killed or injured in a camp for displaced people in North Darfur province since Saturday.
In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, two sides are vying for control of the city’s airport because he is not authorized to brief the media, said an army official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Fighting also spread to the east, including Kassala and Kadarif provinces, which border Ethiopia and Eritrea, the official said. He said the fighting revolved around the RSF and the Army base.
The Sudanese Doctors Association has appealed to international humanitarian and medical organizations to support the country’s medical facilities. The group also called on the international community to put pressure on both sides to ensure the safe passage of ambulances and medical personnel.
The latest tension stems from disagreements over how Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces should be integrated into the armed forces and which agency should oversee the process. Merger is a key condition for Sudan not to sign a transition deal with political groups.
Pro-democracy activists have accused Burhan and Dagalo of mistreating protesters across the county over the past four years, including the deadly destruction of a protest camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum in June 2019, killing more than 120 protesters. die.
Many groups have repeatedly called for their accountability. The RSF has long been accused of atrocities related to the Darfur conflict.
Sudan, a country at the crossroads of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, is known for its history of military coups and civil conflict since gaining independence in the 1950s.
The country shares borders with six African countries and has a strategic coastline on the Red Sea. A decade-long civil war led to South Sudan’s partition in 2011.
The conflict will exacerbate hardship in Sudan, where some 16 million people – or one-third of the population – already depend on humanitarian aid, the United Nations says.
