At least 97 people have been killed and hundreds wounded as clashes spread across Sudan, and the World Health Organization (WHO) said some hospitals were running out of critical supplies to treat the injured.
Fighting erupted on Saturday between army units loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s transitional governing Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who is deputy head of the council.
It was the first such outbreak of fighting since both groups joined forces to oust the veteran Islamist autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The violence was sparked by a disagreement over the integration of the RSF into the military as part of a transition towards civilian rule to end the political-economic crisis sparked by a military coup in 2021.
Burhan and Hemedti agreed a three-hour pause in fighting from 4pm local time (1400 GMT to 1700 GMT) to allow humanitarian evacuations proposed by the United Nations, the UN mission in Sudan said, but the deal was widely ignored after a brief period of relative calm.
In a statement early on Monday, the doctors’ trade union said at least 97 civilians had been killed and 365 others injured since fighting erupted.
The UN’s World Food Programme suspended operations in the country after three of its employees were killed in clashes in Darfur. Fighting was also reported in the eastern border state of Kassala.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, called for an immediate ceasefire and a return to talks to put Sudan back on track to a civilian-led government.
Speaking at the G7 foreign ministers’ summit in Japan, he said: “There is a shared deep concern about the fighting, the violence that is going on in Sudan, the threat that that poses to civilians, that it poses to the Sudanese nation and potentially poses even to the region.
“There’s also a strongly held view across all of our partners on the need for an immediate ceasefire and a return to talks. Talks that were very promising in putting Sudan on a path to a full transition to civilian-led government.
“People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks, they want democracy, they want a civilian-led government. Sudan needs to return to that path.”
Standing alongside his US counterpart, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said a return to negotiations was the “ultimate desired outcome” in Sudan.
He said: “We call upon an immediate cessation of violence, a return to the talks, talks which seemed to be heading in the direction of civilian government. That, of course, is the ultimate desired outcome.
“Ultimately the immediate future lies in the hands of the generals who are engaged in this fight. We call on them to put peace first, to bring an end to the fighting, to get back to negotiations.
“That’s what the people of Sudan want, that’s what the people of Sudan deserve. We will continue to seek ways to support that road back to peace.”
Cleverly added that his “first priority” was the protection of British citizens in Sudan and said the government would provide “what support we can” to them. The UK has previously changed its travel advice to warn against travel to Sudan.
As clashes continued, the WHO said hospitals were running short of medical supplies.
“Several of the nine hospitals in Khartoum receiving injured civilians have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital supplies,” the agency said.
Heavy fighting was reported around Khartoum international airport and the military headquarters on Sunday. Witnesses said the army had carried out airstrikes on RSF barracks and bases – including in Omdurman across the Nile River from Khartoum – and managed to destroy most of their facilities.
A statement by the army said there were ongoing clashes in the vicinity of military headquarters in central Khartoum, and said that RSF soldiers were stationing snipers on buildings, but that they were “monitored and being dealt with.”
In Nyala, the capital of South Darfur and Sudan’s most populous city after Khartoum, local people told of being forced to flee due to fighting between the two rival factions.
Selma Ahmed, from the city’s Khartoum Belail neighbourhood, said that her area had been emptied of people. “Nobody has remained here, the fight was heavy, people had to flee and reports of looting by armed forces – they love taking cars, even if the car can’t move they just [take it] with a bigger vehicle,” she said.
“The RSF seized control of the western military basement in Nyala yesterday from the army and today they seized the international airport.”
Earlier on Sunday, witnesses and residents told Reuters that the army had carried out airstrikes on RSF barracks and bases in the Khartoum region and managed to destroy most of the paramilitaries’ facilities.
“We’re scared, we haven’t slept for 24 hours because of the noise and the house shaking. We’re worried about running out of water and food, and medicine for my diabetic father,” Huda, a young resident in southern Khartoum told Reuters.
“There’s so much false information and everyone is lying. We don’t know when this will end, how it will end,” she added.
Efforts by neighbours and regional bodies to end the violence intensified on Sunday. Egypt offered to mediate, and regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development plans to send the presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti as soon as possible to reconcile Sudanese groups in conflict, the office of the Kenyan president, William Ruto, said on Twitter.
The long-feared violent crisis between the two main factions of the ruling military regime threatens to destabilise not just Sudan but much of the region, as well as exacerbating a battle for influence that involves major Gulf powers, the US, EU and Russia.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
