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Street fighting and rocket attacks added to the chaos in Sudan on Tuesday as a ceasefire between the country’s two warring generals failed, paralyzing the capital and trapping civilians in their homes for fear of crossfire.
Parents and children, doctors and students, high-profile officials and diplomats have all been attacked since the war broke out over the weekend. So was a diplomatic convoy carrying American citizens, and a senior European Union official was wounded by gunfire.
At least 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 injured in the past four days, UN officials said, although the true number is much higher.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday that he had spoken with Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan, the leader of the paramilitary group involved in the attack on the US convoy. General Hamdan then called for a 24-hour ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate or obtain much-needed supplies.
But with conflicting signals about whether the rival Sudanese Army has agreed to participate, residents of the capital, Khartoum, a city of five million, are too scared to step outside.
“We take shelter in the middle room of the house, which has no windows, and we put the mattress up for shelter in case we get air strikes,” said one of the residents of Khartoum named Rana, who is 29 years old. -old pharmacist and five months pregnant.
Rana, who insisted on using only her first name for fear of reprisals, said she and her husband had enough water for two days, but soon ran out of their daily supplies of medicine.
On Monday, when her husband tried to buy supplies, she said, she and a neighbor were attacked by two armed men wearing the beige uniforms of General Hamdan’s fighters, the Rapid Support Force. The man stole money and a phone, he added.
Until a few days ago, General Hamdan had an alliance with the commander of the army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, joining him to seize power in the 2021 coup. for the civil order to fail, the rivalry erupted into violence this weekend.
Hopes that the violence would ease up on Tuesday once the ceasefire was over ended, but just after 6pm, when fighting was supposed to stop, some residents reported heavy gunfire, loud explosions and the sound of fighter jets roaring. overhead.
Within hours, the rival sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
“I never believed it would exist,” said Raga Makawi, a researcher and editor in Khartoum.
The ongoing violence underscores how quickly the security situation is deteriorating. Hospitals have been closed due to bombings and shortages. Residents have been out of their homes for days without electricity or water. Aid workers and foreign officials have repeatedly come under fire, causing a sense of unpredictability.
“Some people are almost living a normal life in some parts of Khartoum,” said Aseel Ibrahim, a freelance graphic designer who fled home to his relatives in the suburbs. “Others live through war.”
At least one senior EU official was wounded by gunfire and is receiving medical treatment, four people familiar with the situation said. The official, Wim Fransen, a Belgian citizen, disappeared on Sunday evening during the fighting between rival armed forces intensified in Khartoum.
His colleagues at the EU mission in Khartoum, terrified, began searching for him and finally tracked him down on Tuesday, the people said. His injuries, he said, were serious but not life-threatening. The people familiar with Mr. Fransen’s condition spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the news media.
The condition of Mr. Fransen’s injuries was not immediately clear. But when war broke out in Khartoum, sending people into hiding, the embassy asked its staff for shelter. The EU ambassador was also attacked at his home in the city but was not seriously injured, officials said.
Speaking at a press conference in Japan, Mr. Blinken said the US diplomatic convoy had been clearly identified by the American flag and diplomatic number plates as it traveled through Khartoum on Friday.
The convoy took American officials from homes in the city to a large American housing complex in central Khartoum, said four diplomatic officials, who asked not to be named because of security concerns.
Later, gunfire hit an armored vehicle in the convoy, but no one was injured, the official said.
“All of our people are safe,” Mr. Blinken said.
The attack was being investigated, he added, but initial reports indicated that the attackers may have been tied to the Rapid Support Force.
Adding to the volatility of the conflict, General Hamdan’s fighters captured a group of Egyptian soldiers in Sudan over the weekend, fueling rumors about whether Egypt is supporting the Sudanese Army.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Sudan’s neighbor to the north, denied the allegations on Tuesday, in his first public comments on his country’s military involvement in Sudan since the clashes.
“Our forces are there to train with our brothers in Sudan and not, absolutely not, to support any party against another,” he said. Egypt is working to ensure the safety of the captured troops, he added.
In the riots, it was unclear who controlled different parts of the capital.
Every day, one or the other has claimed control of major installations, including airports and state broadcasters, only to have those claims quickly refuted. The Rapid Support Force posted a video online on Tuesday that appeared to show fighters outside the presidential palace, but could not be verified.
Fighting has been reported across Khartoum.
Residents have described fierce fighting near the prison, Kober, in recent days, and inmates there have not received drinking water for three days, said Sara Hashim of the Missing Initiative, a group that tracks missing people in Sudan. Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the dictator who was ousted by protests in 2019, is believed to be held there.
More than 450 students remain stranded at the University of Khartoum, and an unknown number of passengers and workers are trapped at the main international airport, according to Germain Mwehu, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross for Sudan.
In parts of the city that appear to be under the control of the Rapid Support Force, many residents remain too afraid to go out for help. Paramilitary forces have been accused of looting and torturing civilians in cities across the country.
In a video shared by Rana, a pharmacist, two men dressed like Rapid Support Force fighters and carrying weapons can be seen holding their neighbors at gunpoint in their path.
Most of the dozen other families living in her building were also unable to leave the building due to the fighting. During the call on Tuesday, gunshots and explosions could be heard in the background.
Rana said she was scheduled to fly on Saturday to Saudi Arabia, where she is from, to celebrate Eid with her family and then stay for the last month of her pregnancy. But even though the airport is less than two miles from his home, he says leaving Sudan has never been too difficult.
Fighting has destroyed the airport, and commercial flights are non-existent.
“It may take several months for the airport to be operational again,” he said. “Where are we going?”
This reporting was contributed by Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Edward Wong, Cora Engelbrecht, Hwaida Saad, Declan Walsh, Vivian Yee and Farnaz Fassihi.
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