Fighting in Sudan yesterday raged for a second day in battles between rival generals in control since their 2021 coup, leaving at least 56 civilians dead, hundreds wounded and sparking international alarm.
Three World Food Programme staff were also killed in the Darfur region, UN Special Representative to Sudan Volker Perthes said.
Explosions and intense gunfire rattled buildings in Khartoum’s densely populated northern and southern suburbs as tanks rumbled on the streets and fighter jets roared overhead, witnesses said.
Photo: AFP
Violence erupted early on Saturday morning after weeks of deepening tensions between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the large and heavily armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with each accusing the other of starting the fight.
Both sides say they control key sites, with state television broadcasting patriotic songs with no commentary.
Daglo’s RSF said they have seized the presidential palace, Khartoum International Airport and other strategic sites, but the army said they are in charge, with the air force late on Saturday urging people to stay indoors as it continued airstrikes targeting RSF bases.
Footage obtained by Agence France-Presse showed heavy smoke billowing from a building near the army headquarters in Khartoum, with the military saying a building had “caught fire” amid the clashes, but that it had been contained.
Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the western Darfur region a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
The RSF’s planned integration into the regular army was a key element of talks to finalize a deal that would return the country to civilian rule and end the political-economic crisis sparked by the military’s 2021 coup.
“The total number of deaths among civilians reached 56,” the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said, adding that there were also “tens of deaths” among security forces, as well as about 600 wounded.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
The African Union is to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday, as is the Arab League, following a request by Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
However, the two generals appear in no mood for talks.
In an interview with United Arab Emirates-based Sky News Arabia, Daglo, also known as Hemeti, said, “Burhan the criminal must surrender.”
The army declared the RSF a “rebel militia,” saying there “will be no negotiations or talks until the dissolution” of the group.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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