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NAIROBI, Kenya – As two rival generals, each with their own army, grappled for power in Sudan there, even the hospital trying to heal the wounds is not heaven.
In one of the overwhelmed medical centers, the morning started with a shooting. Then, members of the paramilitary force stepped in, ordered the baby and other patients to be evacuated, and began taking positions, doctors said.
“Hospitals are battlefields,” said Musab Khojali, an emergency room doctor at the Police Hospital in Burri, northeast of the capital, Khartoum.
Many other hospitals were also reported to have been attacked on Monday, the third day of fighting in Sudan.
The death toll has reached at least 180, with around 1,800 others injured.
The two generals, who jointly seized power in a coup in 2021, have now turned against each other – rejecting all efforts of mediators who have forced them to unite their combat forces under an umbrella, relinquish power and allow a civilian transition. rule.
Amid reports of growing violence and looting, there are concerns that the fighting could affect other countries in the region, including Egypt, which has troops in the country, as well as Chad, Ethiopia and Libya. Russia has also tried to make inroads in Sudan, and members of the Kremlin-affiliated Wagner private military company are stationed there.
Leaders from around the world have called for a ceasefire, but it is unclear who, if any, will control Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country by area.
In Khartoum, where many have lost power and water, residents watch as warplanes and military helicopters circle ominously, and houses shake with the sound of shelling. The few who dare to leave their homes find the road dangerous and lonely.
“Everyone is scared,” said Ahmed Abuhurira, a 28-year-old mechanical engineer who went outside to try to charge his cell phone. “You could see it in their eyes. People were panicking.”
The fighting began on Saturday, when forces loyal to Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, head of a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, began clashing with forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Only the army has an airplane, and on Monday General Hamdan accused his rival of “bombing civilians from the air.” The Sudanese army said in a statement that it was “operating within the rules of conflict and international humanitarian law.”
The incident deepened the crisis in the country where a third of the 45 million people are already in need of food aid. Now, the violence has forced aid groups to suspend operations. The United Nations World Food Program said three workers were killed.
And on Monday, the UN envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, said armed men had looted and burned warehouses with much-needed aid, as well as guest houses and offices of agencies like the World Food Program and UNICEF.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said he had spoken to the warring generals and was deeply concerned. “The humanitarian situation in Sudan has been precarious and is now catastrophic,” he said.
The American secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, called for an immediate ceasefire, and spoke separately to General Hamdan and General al-Burhan to emphasize “the urgency of achieving a ceasefire,” said Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the State Department. , said in a statement.
“The Secretary expressed deep concern about the death and injury of many Sudanese civilians due to the ongoing, indiscriminate fighting, and emphasized the responsibility of the two generals to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians, diplomatic personnel, and humanitarian workers,” said Mr. Patel. .
General Hamdan said on Twitter that he was “honored to have an important conversation” with Mr. Blinken and had discussed “shared dedication to freedom, justice and democracy for our people.”
But now, even the more modest goal of a ceasefire seems elusive.
Mr. Perthes said that he met with the leaders of the military groups of both sides every day, and they explained that there was no intention to end the war. However, he welcomed the idea of a “pause” to allow humanitarian access, he said.
Although the civilian toll is most evident in Khartoum, aid workers say they are also concerned about the situation outside the capital, and particularly in the western Darfur region.
Save the Children, an aid organization, said on Monday that looters had stolen medical supplies for children, as well as refrigerators, laptops and cars in an attack on one of its offices in Darfur. The group’s Sudanese director, Arshad Malik, called on the fighters to maintain humanitarian services.
“For the past three days,” he said in a statement, “people across Sudan have been afraid, not knowing if it is safe to leave their homes, and now have to choose between facing fear and dying of starvation.”
Cyrus Paye, coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in North Darfur, said in a statement that most of the wounded were “civilians caught up in the fighting – among them many children.”
He describes the situation for medical workers.
“Hospitals are rapidly running out of medical supplies to treat survivors,” Mr Paye said. “Medicines and blood have run out. There have also been blackouts in the city since the start of the war, and the supply of fuel for the hospital’s generators is also running low.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said more than a dozen hospitals were forced to close. “Hospitals in Sudan are being bombed,” the group said.
American diplomats are hiding on board, and a White House spokesman said that “all US government personnel are accounted for.”
But Western officials reported that the EU ambassador to Sudan, Aidan O’Hara, had been attacked at his home in Khartoum after gunmen broke in, threatened him with guns and stole money.
The attackers were members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, identified by their uniforms, several officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“This is a violation of the Vienna Convention,” Josep Borrell Fontelles, the bloc’s top diplomat, said. said on Twitter. “The security of diplomatic premises and staff is the primary responsibility of the Sudanese authorities and an obligation under international law.”
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said armed men forced staff out of their apartments in Khartoum and then left them.
Concerned that the conflict could affect other nations, observers have turned their attention to Egypt, which has been involved in the affairs of its neighbors.
Since 2019, when pro-democracy protesters forced Sudan’s autocratic president to step down, Egypt has been desperate to keep civilian-led democracy at its southern doorstep, analysts say. Led by a military-backed government that came to power after its own anti-government uprising in 2011, Egypt has sought to emulate similar leadership in Sudan.
Egyptian officials see the strongman as the best way to keep their neighbors stable – and get out of the democratic path that might inspire Egyptians – and they have embraced General al-Burhan as an ally, especially after the Rapid Support Forces faction captured Egyptian soldiers and seven Egyptians . war plane on the weekend.
The fighting has made transit in and out of the country difficult. At the main airport in Khartoum, planes were targeted again on Monday as rival military factions battled for control of critical infrastructure.
The New York Times, using satellite imagery, has identified 20 planes that have been damaged or severely damaged at the airport since the conflict erupted.
On Monday afternoon, residents of the city of Omdurman, northwest of the capital, said the situation was quiet, many people were out of their homes and traffic was slowly building up in some shopping areas. Many houses, but still do not have water or electricity.
In the capital, many residents are the safest to stay at home. Mr. Abuhurira, an electrical engineer who went out to charge his phone, said that during the half hour he spent on the road, there was hardly anyone.
Some of the forgotten people, he said, looked “like zombies — without soul or spirit.”
This reporting was contributed by Vivian Yee from Cairo, Farnaz Fassihi and Christoph Koettl from New York and Edward Wong from Karuizawa, Japan.
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