KHARTOUM: Fighting in Sudan raged for a second day on Sunday in battles between rival generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, leaving over 50 civilians including three UN staff dead and sparking international alarm.
Deafening explosions and intense gunfire rattled buildings in the capital Khartoum’s densely-populated northern and southern suburbs as tanks rumbled on the streets and fighter jets roared overhead, witnesses said.
Violence erupted early on Saturday after weeks of power struggles between army chief Abdel Fattah al Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the heavily-armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with each accusing the other of starting the fight.
“The situation is very worrying and it doesn’t seem like it will calm anytime soon,” said Ahmed Seif, a Khartoum resident, who fears his building had been damaged by gunfire but said it was too dangerous to go outside to check.
Both sides claim they control key sites, while state television broadcasted patriotic songs without commentary.
Daglo’s RSF say they have seized the presidential palace, Khartoum airport and other strategic sites, but the army insist they are in charge.
Footage 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.
On Sunday, the stench of gunpowder wafted through Khartoum’s streets, deserted except by soldiers as frightened civilians sheltered inside their homes.
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said they had recorded 56 civilians killed as well as “tens of deaths” among security forces, and around 600 wounded.
Fighting has also erupted outside Khartoum, including in the troubled western Darfur region and in the eastern border state of Kassala.
The United Nations said three employees of its World Food Programme (WFP) had been killed in clashes in North Darfur.
It was not immediately clear whether the three deaths on Saturday were included in the tally provided by the medics.
UN Special Representative Volker Perthes condemned the killings in a statement, saying “civilian and humanitarian aid workers are not a target.”
He said he was also “appalled by reports of projectiles hitting UN and other humanitarian premises in several locations in Darfur”.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities”, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the fighting “threatens the security and safety of Sudanese civilians”.
Similar appeals came from the African Union, Britain, China, the European Union and Russia, while Pope Francis said he was following the events “with concern” and urged dialogue.
The AU is to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday, as is the Arab League, following a request by Egypt and Saudi Arabia. — AFP
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