Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 15, 2023. Fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the country’s powerful paramilitary forces have broken out. in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation after weeks of escalating tensions between the two forces. The war raised fears of a broader conflict in the chaotic nation.
Marwan Ali/AP
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Marwan Ali/AP
Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 15, 2023. Fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and the country’s powerful paramilitary forces have broken out. in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation after weeks of escalating tensions between the two forces. The war raised fears of a broader conflict in the chaotic nation.
Marwan Ali/AP
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary force fought fiercely in the capital and other areas, dealing a new blow to hopes of a democratic transition and stoking fears. about a broader conflict. A doctors association said on Sunday the death toll had risen to 56, with at least 595 people injured.
Clashes have dragged on for months of heightened tension between the military and its rival partner, the Rapid Support Forces group. Those tensions delayed an agreement with political parties to return the country to a brief transition to democracy, which was derailed by a military coup. the October 2021 event.
Chaos unfolded in the capital, Khartoum, where truck-mounted machine-gunners battled in densely populated areas. Amal Mohamed, a doctor at a public hospital in Omdurman, said: “Fire and explosions are everywhere. “We have never seen such battles in Khartoum before,” said resident Abdel-Hamid Mustafa.
Towards the end of the day, the military issued a statement ruling out negotiations with the RSF, calling instead for the removal of what it called “insurgent militias”. It was the turn of the head of the paramilitary group, calling the head of the armed forces a “criminal”. The tough language signals that conflict between former allies, who jointly orchestrated the 2021 coup, is likely to continue.
Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure seems to be mounting. Top diplomats, including the US Secretary of State, the UN Secretary-General, the EU’s foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission called on the parties. stop fighting.
Arab states with interests in Sudan – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – also called for a ceasefire and for both sides to return to negotiations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “We agreed that the parties should immediately cease hostilities without preconditions,” he said in a statement early Sunday.
The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the commander of the Sudanese army, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the RSF, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. It also comes after years of political turmoil since the 2021 coup.
Recent tensions stem from disagreement over how the RSF, led by Dagalo, should be integrated into the armed forces and which agency should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.
Fighting broke out early Saturday. The two sides blamed each other for who started it and also made rival claims about who controlled strategic facilities around the capital.
By early Sunday, at least 56 people had been killed across Sudan and at least 595 injured.
The Sudanese Doctors’ Association said at least six deaths were reported in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman and eight others near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province in the southwest.
The organization said the death toll could be higher, with many believed to remain unaccounted for in the western region of Darfur and the northern town of Merowe.
The military said in a statement late Saturday that its troops had occupied all RSF bases in Omdurman, while residents reported intense air strikes on paramilitary positions. in and around the capital continued into the night. They said after nightfall, gunfire and explosions were still heard in some areas of Khartoum.
One of the hotspots is Khartoum International Airport. There was no official announcement that the airport was closed, but major airlines have suspended their flights.
Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its planes was involved in what it called “an accident”. Video shows the plane on fire on the runway. Another plane also appeared to have caught fire. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a Boeing 737 operated by SkyUp, an airline based in Kiev, Ukraine. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The medical team said two civilians were killed at the airport.
Burhan, the armed forces commander, told Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera, that the day began with RSF troops “harassed” troops south of Khartoum, causing clashes. . He said RSF fighters entered Khartoum airport and set fire to several planes.
He said all strategic facilities including the military headquarters and the Republican Party residence, the seat of the Sudanese president, are under his forces’ control. He threatened to deploy more troops to Khartoum.
Dagalo accused Burhan of starting the battle by surrounding the RSF army. “This criminal, he forced us to fight,” he said.
Dagalo told Al Jazeera that he believes the fighting will end in “the next few days.”
The RSF alleges that its forces have taken control of strategic locations in Khartoum and the northern city of Merowe, about 350 kilometers (215 mi) northwest of the capital. The military dismissed the claims as “lies.”
Clashes have also taken place in other areas of the country including the Northern Province, the conflict-torn Darfur region and the strategic Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. know. authorized to notify the media.
Pro-democracy activists have blamed Burhan and Dagalo for abusing protesters across the district over the past four years, including the demolition of a protest camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum in June 2018. 2019 left more than 120 protesters dead. Many groups have repeatedly called for them to be held accountable. The RSF has long been accused of atrocities related to the Darfur conflict.
Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was ousted in a coup in 2021, warned of the possibility of regional conflict if fighting escalates. “The shooting must stop immediately,” he said in a video calling on both sides posted on his Twitter account.
Cameron Hudson, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adviser and former US diplomat, said the fighting could become broader and protracted, and called on the US Ky formed a coalition of regional countries to put pressure on military leaders. and RSF to de-escalate.
Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, and the Saudi ambassador to Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, have been in touch with Dagalo and Burhan to try to end the violence, said a UN official who requested anonymity to discuss the meetings. internal discussion.
Chad announced the closure of its land border with Sudan.
