Sudan warring parties trade blame as fighting rages

Published June 23, 2023
People ride atop a truck carrying furniture and other items along a road from Khartoum to Wad Madani on Thursday.—AFP
People ride atop a truck carrying furniture and other items along a road from Khartoum to Wad Madani on Thursday.—AFP

KHARTOUM: Explosions rocked Khartoum on Thursday, more than two months after fighting broke out between rival Sudanese generals, with each side accusing the other of attacks on civilians.

Witnesses in the east of the capital reported artillery fire, while others in the northern suburbs said there was heavy shelling from an army barracks, with the force of the blasts shaking the walls of houses.

Witnesses also said clashes erupted on the streets as “military aircraft flew overhead” in an area of central Khartoum that “had been calm for 10 days”.

Fighting since April 15 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has claimed more than 2,000 lives.

The latest in a series of ceasefires that have all been systematically violated ended on Wednesday morning, and fighting resumed within minutes.

The three-day US- and Saudi-brokered ceasefire had brought a brief respite to the millions of civilians trapped by fighting and suffering shortages of medical care, electricity, water and other essentials.

The army accused the RSF of “taking advantage of the truce to mobilise its forces and commit several violations against civilians”. The RSF in turn accused the army of fabricating a video of a rape attack, alleging “one of the actors appeared in the uniform” of the armed forces, “proving their guilt”.

Fighting has largely been concentrated in the capital and the western Darfur region, but on Wednesday, the army accused a key rebel group in South Kordofan state, hundreds of kilometres (miles) southwest of Khartoum, of having “attacked” its troops.

The deadliest fighting has raged in Darfur, a vast region on Sudan’s western border with Chad.

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, the army and paramilitary fighters clashed using “all types of weapons”, residents said on Wednesday evening.

In Darfur, home to ethnic minority groups as well as Arab tribes, the conflict has “taken an ethnic dimension”, the United Nations has warned. The chief of the UN’s World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Wednesday confirmed “46 attacks on health care since the start of the fighting”.

He said about two-thirds of health facilities in areas affected by the war are “out of service,” and warned that “the risk of epidemics will only increase” with the rainy season that began this month.

The WHO said around 11 million people needed health assistance and voiced concerns about attempts to control ongoing epidemics of measles, malaria and dengue.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2023

Opinion

Editorial

Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.
Concerning measures
Updated 03 Nov, 2024

Concerning measures

The govt must seek political input and consensus on the changes it is seeking to make and be open about its intentions.
Short-lived relief?
03 Nov, 2024

Short-lived relief?

POLICYMAKERS must be jumping with joy. At the close of the first quarter of FY25, the budget posted a consolidated...
Brisk spread
03 Nov, 2024

Brisk spread

THE surge in polio cases has reached distressing levels with a tally of 45 last reported, after two cases emerged in...