KHARTOUM, Sudan: A Sudan doctors’ group said Sunday the death toll in fierce fighting between the armed forces and a powerful paramilitary group has risen to 56. The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said at least 595 people were wounded across Sudan.
Sudan’s military and a powerful paramilitary force battled fiercely Saturday in the capital and other areas, dealing a new blow to hopes for a transition to democracy and raising fears of a wider conflict.
The clashes capped months of heightened tensions between the military and its partner turned rival, the Rapid Support Forces group. Those tensions had delayed a deal with political parties to get the country back to its short lived transition to democracy, which was derailed by an October 2021 military coup.
Chaotic scenes unfolded in the capital of Khartoum, where fighters firing from truck mounted machine guns battled in densely populated neighborhoods. “Fire and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman. “We haven’t seen such battles in Khartoum before,” said resident Abdel Hamid Mustafa.By the end of the day, the military issued a statement ruling out out negotiations with the RSF, instead calling for the dismantling of what it called a “rebellious militia.” The head of the paramilitary group, in turn, branded the armed forces chief a “criminal.” The tough language signaled that the conflict between the former allies, who jointly orchestrated the 2021 coup, was likely to continue.
Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure appeared to be mounting. Top diplomats, including the US Secretary of State, the UN secretary general, the EU foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission urged the sides to stop fighting.
Arab states with stakes in Sudan Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also called for a cease fire and for both parties to return to negotiations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “We agreed it was essential for the parties to immediately end hostilities without pre condition,” he said in a statement early Sunday.
The fighting comes after months of escalating tensions between the commander of Sudan’s miltitary, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the head of the RSF, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. It also followed years of political unrest since the 2021 coup.
The recent tensions stem from disagreement over how the RSF, headed 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.
The fighting erupted early Saturday. The two sides traded blame over who started and also made rival claims over who controlled strategic installations around the capital.
By late Saturday, at least 27 people had been killed across Sudan and more than 180 wounded. The Sudan Doctor’s Syndicate said at least six of the deaths were reported in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman and another eight near Nyala, the capital city of the South Darfur province in the southwest.
