Scores of military personnel were killed, the doctors' committee said, without giving a specific number due to a lack of first-hand information from hospitals. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors earlier reported at least 56 civilians had been killed and 595 people including combatants had been wounded since the fighting erupted. The Sudanese Doctors' Union said in a statement that at least 97 civilians had been killed and 365 injured. They have also pursued investments in sectors including agriculture, where Sudan holds vast potential, and ports on Sudan's Red Sea coast. We don't know when this will end, how it will end," she added.Ī protracted confrontation could plunge Sudan into widespread conflict as it struggles with economic breakdown and tribal violence, derailing efforts to move towards elections.Įnergy-rich powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have sought to shape events in Sudan, seeing the transition away from toppled strongman Bashir's rule as a way to roll back Islamist influence and improve stability in the region. "There's so much false information and everyone is lying. We're worried about running out of water and food, and medicine for my diabetic father," Huda, a young resident in southern Khartoum told Reuters. "We're scared, we haven't slept for 24 hours because of the noise and the house shaking. ![]() RSF members remained inside Khartoum international airport besieged by the army but it was holding back from striking them to avoid wreaking major damage, witnesses said.īut a major problem, witnesses and residents said, was posed by thousands of heavily armed RSF members deployed inside neighbourhoods of Khartoum and other cities, with no authority able to control them. They said the army had also wrested back control over much of Khartoum's presidential palace from the RSF after both sides claimed to control it and other key installations in Khartoum, where heavy artillery and gun battles raged into Sunday. CLASHES IN KHARTOUMĪ statement by the army said there were ongoing clashes in the vicinity of military headquarters in central Khartoum, and said that RSF soldiers were stationing snipers on buildings, but that they were "monitored and being dealt with."Įarlier on Sunday, witnesses and residents told Reuters that the army had carried out air strikes on RSF barracks and bases in the Khartoum region and managed to destroy most of the paramilitaries' facilities. Discord over the timetable for that has delayed the signing of an internationally-backed agreement with political parties on a transition to democracy after a 2021 military coup. The eruption of fighting over the weekend followed rising tensions over the RSF's integration into the military. Egypt offered to mediate, and regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development plans to send the presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti as soon as possible to reconcile Sudanese groups in conflict, Kenyan President William Ruto's office said on Twitter. Security Council, European Union and African Union have appealed for a quick end to the hostilities that threaten to worsen instability in an already volatile wider region.Įfforts by neighbours and regional bodies to end the violence intensified on Sunday. The United States, China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the U.N. mission in Sudan said, but the deal was widely ignored after a brief period of relative calm.Īs night fell residents reported the boom of artillery and roar of warplanes in the Kafouri district of Bahri, which has an RSF base, across the Nile river from the capital Khartoum.Įyewitnesses told Reuters the army was renewing air strikes on RSF bases in Omdurman, Khartoum's sister city across the Nile, and the Kafouri and Sharg El-Nil districts of adjacent Bahri, putting RSF fighters to flight. ![]() local time (1400 GMT to 1700 GMT) to allow humanitarian evacuations proposed by the United Nations, the U.N. It was the first such outbreak since both joined forces to oust veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2019 and was sparked by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition towards civilian rule.īurhan and Hemedti agreed a three-hour pause in fighting from 4 p.m. ![]() The fighting erupted on Saturday between army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan's transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is deputy head of the council. KHARTOUM, April 16 (Reuters) - Sudan's army appeared to gain the upper hand on Sunday in a bloody power struggle with rival paramilitary forces, pounding their bases with air strikes, said witnesses.Īt least 97 civilians had been killed and 365 injured since the fighting in Sudan started, said one doctor's group.
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