Air strikes, heavy shelling and gunfire continued across strategic sites in Sudan’s capital Khartoum as the war that’s torn the nation apart — killing hundreds of people and sending hundreds of thousands fleeing — entered its third week.
(Bloomberg) —
Air strikes, heavy shelling and gunfire continued across strategic sites in Sudan’s capital Khartoum as the war that’s torn the nation apart — killing hundreds of people and sending hundreds of thousands fleeing — entered its third week.
The continued fighting came despite cease-fire pledges from both the army and the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, which have been battling for control of the North African country since April 15. With the death toll now above 500 people, the African Union on Friday night appealed to the international community to “speedily extend humanitarian support” to Sudan.
But on Saturday morning, fighting had resumed once more around Khartoum’s presidential palace, in nearby Omdurman and Bahri, and in West Darfur.
“The army want to defeat the RSF before they can talk,” said Ali Abdul Latif, a former official in the government of ousted civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. “Whatever they say to the media and international community, on the ground that is their strategy.”
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Sudanese mediators and foreign powers have been pushing, since the war broke out for a meeting between Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the RSF, and army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. No meeting has been announced yet.
While the cease-fire, which began on Monday and was extended on Thursday, has never been fully adhered to, it has at least provided some lulls in which civilians have been able to flee, according to a US official. The current violence is reckless and is hurting civilians, the official said.
The United Nations’ refugee agency said about 33,000 people have fled south from Khartoum to camps in White Nile State, while 2,000 have gone to camps in Gedaref and 5,000 to Kassala since the start of the crisis. More than 10,000 people have crossed into South Sudan, with tens of thousands more now in Chad, the Central African Republic and Egypt.
In statements, both sides accused each other of violating the cease-fire, while the RSF said it controlled 90% of the state of Khartoum. Bloomberg News couldn’t verify the claim. The army accused the RSF of widespread looting and using residential neighborhoods as “human shields.”
Intense violence also rocked El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, where the main referral hospital has been looted.
“There are news reports from El-Geneina of widespread looting and destruction, burning of property, including the central market, and gatherings sites and camps where displaced people are living,” according to the medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières.
–With assistance from Iain Marlow.
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