Dozens dead, hundreds wounded as Sudan’s army and rival 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. The doctors’ union said on Sunday the death toll had risen to 56, with at least 595 people injured.

The clashes ended months of tension between the military and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces group. The tension has delayed an agreement with political parties to return the country to a short-lived transition to democracy, which was thrown out by a military coup in October 2021.

Chaotic scenes unfolded in the capital Khartoum, where fighters fired from truck-mounted machine guns in a densely populated area. “Fires and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor at a public hospital in Omdurman. “We have never seen this kind of war in Khartoum before,” resident Abdel-Hamid Mustafa said.

At the end of the day, the military issued a statement that it could not negotiate with the RSF, instead asking for the dismantling of what it called “rebel militias.” The head of the paramilitary group, in turn, called the head of the armed forces a “criminal”. The tough language signals that the conflict between the former allies, who jointly orchestrated the 2021 coup, is likely to continue.

Diplomatic pressure was mounted

Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure seems to be mounting. Top diplomats, including the US Secretary of State, the UN secretary general, the EU’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.

Arab countries with stakes in Sudan – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have also called for a ceasefire and for the two sides to return to talks.

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.

The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between Sudan’s military commander, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the RSF, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. It also follows years of political unrest since the 2021 coup.

The new tension stems from disagreements over how the RSF, led by Dagalo, should be integrated into the armed forces and what authority should oversee the process. The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement with political groups.

Fighting erupted early Saturday. Both sides blame who started it and also make competing claims about who controls strategic installations around the capital.

At least 56 killed, 595 injured

As of early Sunday, at least 56 people were killed in Sudan and at least 595 injured.

The Sudanese Doctors Syndicate said at least six deaths were reported in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman and another eight near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province in the southwest.

The syndicate said the death toll could be higher, as many are believed to remain unaccounted for in the western Darfur region and the northern town of Merowe.

The military said in a statement late Saturday that its forces had captured all RSF bases in Omdurman, while residents reported heavy airstrikes on paramilitary positions in and around the capital that continued into the night. After nightfall, gunshots and explosions could still be heard in some parts of Khartoum, he said.

One flash point is Khartoum International Airport. There was no official announcement that the airport was closed, but major airlines suspended flights.

Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its planes was involved in what it called an “accident”. Video shows the plane on fire on the tarmac. Another plane was also seen on fire. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a Boeing 737 for SkyUp, a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

2 civilians were killed at the airport

A medical group said two civilians died at the airport.

Burhan, the chief of the armed forces, told the Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera that the day began with RSF forces “disturbing” the military south of Khartoum, leading to clashes. He said that RSF fighters entered Khartoum airport and set fire to several planes.

He said that all strategic facilities including the military headquarters and the palace of the Republic, seat of Sudan’s presidency, were under the control of his forces. He threatened to deploy more troops to Khartoum.

Dagalo accused Burhan of starting the war by the RSF forces around him. “These criminals, they are forcing this war on us,” he said.

Dagalo told Al Jazeera that he believed the war would end in “the next few days.”

The RSF said its forces controlled strategic locations in Khartoum and the northern town of Merowe about 350 kilometers northwest of the capital. The military dismissed the claims as “false.”

Clashes in many areas

Clashes also took place in other parts of the country including the Northern province, the conflict-torn Darfur region, and the strategic coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, the military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not know. authority to brief the media.

Pro-democracy activists have accused Burhan and Dagalo of abuses against protesters across the county over the past four years, including the June 2019 dismantling of a protest camp outside a military base in Khartoum that killed more than 120 protesters. Many groups have repeatedly called for him to be held accountable. The RSF has long been accused of atrocities linked to the Darfur conflict.

Former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, who was ousted in a 2021 coup, warned of the possibility of regional conflict if the war escalated. “The shooting must stop immediately,” he said in a video appeal to both sides posted on his Twitter account.

Cameron Hudson, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Thinking and a former US diplomat, said the fighting could become more widespread and protracted, calling on the United States to form a coalition of regional countries to pressure the country’s leaders. military and RSF for de-escalation.

Volker Perthes, the UN envoy for Sudan, and the Saudi ambassador to Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, are in contact with Dagalo and Burhan to try to end the violence, said a UN official who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Chad announced that it is closing its land border with Sudan.