Sudan violence: The Sudanese army and a powerful rival force continue to battle it out in the streets of the capital Khartoum and other cities. Nearly 200 people have died and more than 2000 injured in the explosions and gunfire as two top Sudanese generals clash for control of the country.
UN envoy Volker Perthes said the two sides are clashing in densely populated areas with tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons. They are using fighter jets and anti-aircraft guns, he said.
Toll could be higher
More people could be dead as there are many bodies in the streets around central Khartoum that no one can reach because of the clashes. There has been no official word on how many civilians or combatants have been killed. Earlier the doctors’ syndicate had reported 97 civilian deaths.
Millions of Sudanese found themselves trapped inside their homes when a sudden violent clash broke out over the weekend between two top generals. Both are backed backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters. Millions of resident sholed up in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.
Diplomats try to broker truce
Top diplomats on four continents scrambled to broker a truce, and the U.N. Security Council was set to discuss the crisis.
“Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,” Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for thousands of tea vendors and other food workers, said from her home in a southern district of Khartoum.
She said a shell stuck a neighbor’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. “We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.”
In central Khartoum, gunfire continued and smoke erupted near the main military headquarters, a major battle front. A student posted a video online of at least 88 students and staffers trapped in the engineering college library at Khartoum University since the start of fighting.
One student was killed during clashes outside and another wounded, he said. They do not have food or water, he said, showing a room full of people sleeping on the floor.
Sudan has a long history of military coups, but the latest fighting in the capital and its adjoining city Omdurman across the Nile River is unprecedented. The turmoil comes just days before Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.
Top generals pitted against each other
Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, is pitted against against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup. The violence has raised the specter of civil war just as Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule.
Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo had recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups, but the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.
The US, the UN and others have called for a truce. Egypt, which backs Sudan’s military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have also called for both sides to stand down.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said on Monday that Cairo was in “constant contact” with both the army and the RSF, urging them to halt the fighting and return to negotiations.
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