Explosions yesterday rocked the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, as fighting between the army and paramilitary forces led by rival generals raged for a third day, with the death toll surpassing 100.
The violence erupted on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The intense conflict, which has seen airstrikes, tanks on the streets, artillery fire and heavy gunfire in crowded neighborhoods in Khartoum and other cities across Sudan, has triggered international demands for an immediate ceasefire.
Photo: AFP
“The death toll among civilians ... has reached 97,” the doctors’ union said, adding later that “dozens” of fighters had been killed.
The figure does not include all casualties, as many could not reach hospitals due to difficulties in movement amid the fighting.
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, a separate pro-
democracy organization, had also reported dozens of deaths among security forces, and some 942 wounded.
Amid wide appeals by medics for safe routes to move casualties, the two sides agreed to a UN proposal for a window on Sunday to evacuate the wounded, but the heavy gunfire did not stop.
UN Special Representative Volker Perthes, who is in Khartoum, said he was “extremely disappointed” by the failure of both sides to abide by the humanitarian pause.
The WHO warned that “several” of Khartoum’s nine hospitals receiving injured civilians “have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital supplies.”
The violence has forced terrified Sudanese civilians to shelter in their homes with fears of a prolonged conflict that could plunge the nation into deeper chaos, dashing hopes for return to civilian rule.
Three UN staff from the World Food Programme were among those killed in fighting in the western region of Darfur, forcing a “temporary halt” to all operations in a country where one-third of the population needs aid.
Yesterday morning, loud gunfire and deafening explosions again shook buildings and echoed across the streets of Khartoum as street fighting continued, Agence France-Presse journalists said.
Power has been off across swathes of Khartoum, and the few grocery stores remaining open said they would only last a few days if no supplies could enter the city.
Appeals to end the fighting have come from across the region and the globe, including the African Union, Arab League and East African bloc IGAD.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that an escalation in the fighting would “further aggravate the already precarious humanitarian situation.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the warring rivals to agree an “immediate cessation of violence” and start talks.
Despite the wide calls for a ceasefire, the two generals have appeared in no mood for talks with each one calling the other “criminal.”
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