Fighters in Sudan’s capital targeted buildings occupied by diplomats and international humanitarian agency staff since violence erupted in the North African nation on Saturday, the United Nations said.
(Bloomberg) — Fighters in Sudan’s capital targeted buildings occupied by diplomats and international humanitarian agency staff since violence erupted in the North African nation on Saturday, the United Nations said.
Armed personnel entered the homes of people working for the UN and international non-governmental organizations in downtown areas of Khartoum, according to an internal UN document seen by Bloomberg. The gunmen sexually assaulted women and looted peoples’ belongings, including cars and personal items.
Forces loyal to the head of the army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have clashed in Khartoum and other cities for the past four days, leaving more than 180 people dead and at least 1,800 others injured.
“In Khartoum, armed uniformed personnel, reportedly from RSF, are entering the residences of expats, separating men and women and taking them away,” the UN said. One rape incident was reported, it said.
The UN document was circulated as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a US diplomatic convoy in Sudan was fired upon, and after the European Union said Ambassador Aidan O’Hara was assaulted at his home in the capital. The incidents follow the death of three UN World Food Programme employees in the western Darfur region after a firefight at a military base at the weekend.
Read more: Blinken Says US Diplomatic Convoy Shot at in Sudan, All Safe
In other incidents cited in the UN document, two Nigerian men working for an international organization were abducted, while a building occupied by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was also targeted, though no injuries were reported. A rocket-propelled grenade hit the residence of a local UN staff member in the Burri area of Khartoum, it said.
RSF fighters are focused on securing military bases and none of its forces are “on a mission to detain or enter the houses of citizens,” the group said in a statement, adding that it had arrested people who’d donned RSF uniforms to carry out “such activities.”
Spokespeople for the UN and the Sudanese army didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
–With assistance from Iain Marlow.
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