Violence for the control of power is not calming down in Sudan. The clashes are still raging in the night from Sunday to Monday when neither the army nor the powerful paramilitary force of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo manage to win despite fighting which has killed at least 56 civilians, including three humanitarian workers from the UN.
While more than 600 people have been injured since the fighting began on Saturday, the World Health Organization announces that “several of the nine hospitals in Khartoum receiving wounded civilians have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital materials. In the capital, where in some neighborhoods electricity and running water have been cut since Saturday, patients and their relatives “have no more food or drink”, warns a network of pro-democracy doctors.
Air raids in Khartoum
Fighting with heavy weapons therefore continues between the regular army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), former militiamen from the Darfur war who became auxiliaries to the army before to try to dislodge her from power. Air raids shake the buildings, while artillery fire and street fighting with automatic rifles or heavy machine guns shake Khartoum and Darfur. The World Food Program (WFP) had to suspend its aid after the death of three of its employees, killed in Darfur, when more than a third of the 45 million Sudanese needed humanitarian aid before the recent outbreak of violence.
In Khartoum, thick black smoke continues to rise from the city center. The airport is closed as well as several borders, in particular with Chad. Witnesses also reported artillery fire in Kassala, in the east.
A conflict between former allies
The conflict has in fact been brewing for weeks. Since the popular revolt that overthrew Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan has been trying to organize its first free elections after 30 years of dictatorship. During the putsch that ended the democratic transition in October 2021, General Burhane and General Daglo joined forces to oust civilians from power. But their rivalry exploded on Saturday.
The international community has since multiplied calls for a ceasefire. The Arab League and the African Union (AU) thus met urgently. In Cairo, the Arab countries agreed to condemn the violence and call for a “political solution”. The AU, for its part, announced that it was going to send the president of its Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, to the spot and that the latter would go “immediately” to Sudan.
It was impossible on Sunday to know which force controlled what. The FSR announced that they had taken the airport on Saturday, but the army denied it. The paramilitaries also said they were holding the presidential palace. The army has denied and above all claims to hold the HQ of its staff, one of the main power complexes in Khartoum.