Dozens dead, hundreds wounded as Sudan’s army and rival paramilitary force battle

Sudan’s military and powerful paramilitary forces fought fiercely in the capital and other areas, dealing a fresh blow to hopes for a transition to democracy and raising fears of a wider conflict.

Heavy fighting involving armored vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and warplanes raged Sunday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the neighboring city of Omdurman and in flashpoints across the country. The rival forces are believed to have tens of thousands of fighters each in the capital alone.

At least five civilians were killed and 78 wounded on Sunday, bringing the two-day toll to 61 dead and more than 670 wounded, the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said. The group said there were dozens of additional deaths among rival forces.

The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the armed forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group. The two generals are former allies who jointly orchestrated the October 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan’s transition to democracy.

In recent months, internationally-backed negotiations have revived hopes for an orderly transition to democracy. However, growing tensions between al-Burhan and Dagalo eventually delayed the deal with the political party.

Volker Perthes, the UN envoy for Sudan, announced that al-Burhan and Dagalo agreed to a three-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting on Sunday. An hour after the pause began in the evening, the exchange of gunfire and heavy weapons fire could still be heard in the central part of Khartoum, even intensifying in some areas.

The clashes came as most Sudanese were preparing to celebrate a major holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sunset.

Khartoum residents said fighting broke out around Sudan’s military headquarters shortly before sunset. “Heavy explosions and gunfire for about an hour,” said Amany Sayed, 38. “The fighting here does not stop.”

In Khartoum and Omdurman, fighting was reported around military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and state television headquarters. A senior military official said RSF fighters clashed with troops at military headquarters early Sunday and there was a fire at a facility for ground forces.

The military and the RSF both claim to control strategic locations in Khartoum and elsewhere in the district. These claims cannot be independently verified.

Diplomatic pressure was mounted

Top diplomats, including the US secretary of state, the UN secretary general, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission have called for the parties to stop fighting.

Members of the UN Security Council, which disagrees with other crises around the world, have called for an immediate end to the fighting and a return to dialogue. The African Union’s top council held a meeting Sunday at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to discuss the conflict in Sudan.

The group’s Peace and Security Council called for an “immediate ceasefire by both sides without conditions.” It also asked Moussa Faki Mahamat, who chairs the African Union Commission, to “immediately travel to Sudan to join the parties to the ceasefire.” Arab countries with stakes in Sudan – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – made similar appeals.

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, spoke by phone with rival Sudanese generals and urged them to stop “all kinds of military escalation,” Saudi state TV reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was consulting with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “We agree it is important for the parties to immediately end hostilities without preconditions,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

On Sunday, the UN’s World Food Program said it was temporarily suspending operations in Sudan after three agency employees were killed in clashes the previous day and a plane used by the program was damaged.

“We cannot do our rescue work if the safety and security of our teams and partners is not guaranteed,” said Cindy McCain, the agency’s executive director.

About 16 million people, or one-third of Sudan’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was following “with concern” the events unfolding in Sudan. “I am close to the people of Sudan … and I invite you to pray that hands are laid and that dialogue can take place, to continue the path of peace and harmony,” the pope said in a speech on Sunday to the public in St. Peter’s Square.

Clashes across Sudan

Rival forces are fighting in several locations in Sudan, including the western Darfur region, where tens of thousands of people live in camps for the displaced after years of genocidal civil war.

Dozens of people have also been killed and injured since Saturday in a camp for displaced people in North Darfur, said Adam Regal, a Darfur charity spokesman.

In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province, both sides are fighting for control of the city’s airport, said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

The official said fighting had also spread to the eastern region, including the provinces of Kassala and Al-Qadarif on the border with Ethiopia and Eritrea. He said the war was around the RSF and the army base.

Sudan, a country at the crossroads of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, is known for its history of military coups and civil conflicts since its independence in the 1950s.

The country is bordered by six African countries and has a strategic coastline on the Red Sea. A decade-old civil conflict led to the secession of South Sudan in 2011.