[News] Fighting continues in Sudan, despite calls for a ceasefire

[Draeno]

 

Gunfire and explosions continued on Tuesday in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on the fourth day of fighting between two rival generals, which left nearly 200 dead, despite international calls for a ceasefire.

The conflict pits the head of the Army, General Abdel Fatah al Burhan, de facto leader of the country, and his former number two, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as "Hemedti", head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. . The conflict between the two, simmering for weeks, exploded over a disagreement over how to integrate the RSF paramilitaries into the regular troops.

Under pressure from the international community, General Daglo announced that he had approved "a 24-hour ceasefire," but at the appointed time, 4:00 p.m. GMT, the din of fighting continued in different neighborhoods of Khartoum, according to several witnesses. . The RSF accused the regular army of having "violated the truce" while their own men continued to fire heavy weapons in the streets, witnesses said.

At the entrance to several buildings in Khartoum, RSF paramilitaries could be seen perched on pickup trucks and firing into the air. For their part, the planes under the command of General Al Burhan - at the helm of the country since the 2021 coup, which removed civilians from power - pointed to the RSF headquarters, scattered throughout the city. Airstrikes have already hit four hospitals in Khartoum and 16 hospitals across the country are out of service, a group of doctors said.

The conflict continues despite calls by the G7, UN and US foreign ministers to "immediately stop the violence". In the capital, most residents are confined to their homes, without electricity or running water, and the few grocery stores open warn they won't last long without restocking.

They also began to see groups of women and men with huge bags heading south, where there is no fighting. “We haven't slept for four days,” said Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem, 37, a Khartoum resident. According to the UN, bullets and rockets have left more than 185 dead since Saturday, in addition to some 1,800 wounded. Both the United Nations and several NGOs decided to suspend aid in the country, where hunger affects more than one in three inhabitants.

Three employees of the World Food Program (WFP) were killed on Saturday and on Monday a US diplomatic convoy was attacked. Similarly, the ambassador of the European Union was "robbed at his residence" in Khartoum, according to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The Red Cross and the World Health Organization (WHO) called on both parties to guarantee access to people in need of help. The director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, denounced the "looting of certain health centers and the use of others for military purposes."

Hospitals are in danger in Sudan
In the Darfur region, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that it had received 183 wounded in its last operating hospital in three days. "The majority are civilians, many of them children," the NGO said, noting that 25 died due to lack of care.

Darfur is the stronghold of General Daglo and thousands of his men, who committed numerous atrocities during the war that began in 2003 in that region of the country. At the moment, it is impossible to know who controls which facilities and the two parties in conflict claim control of the airport, the presidential palace and the headquarters of the General Staff.

“It is the first time in Sudan's history, since its independence [in 1956], that there is such a level of violence in the center, in Khartoum,” said Kholood Khair, founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank. For the political scientist Amr Chobaki, "the current situation is the result of the mistakes of the regime" of the dictator Omar el Beshir (1989-2019) "and of the transition period, which after the fall of Beshir should have addressed the unification of the armed forces".

 

https://www.elespectador.com/mundo/mas-paises/siguen-los-combates-en-sudan-a-pesar-del-llamado-de-un-alto-al-fuego-noticias-de-hoy/