CAIRO — U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres stated Sudan was getting ready to a “full-scale civil conflict” as fierce clashes between rival generals continued unabated Sunday within the capital, Khartoum.
He warned on Saturday night that the conflict between the Sudanese army and a strong paramilitary drive is prone to destabilize the whole area, in keeping with Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general.
Sudan descended into chaos after months of pressure between army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and his rival Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary Speedy Assist Forces, exploded into open preventing in mid-April.
Well being Minister Haitham Mohammed Ibrahim stated in televised feedback final month that the clashes have killed over 3,000 folks and wounded over 6,000 others. The dying tally, nevertheless, is very prone to be a lot larger. Greater than 2.9 million folks have fled their properties to safer areas inside Sudan or crossed into neighboring international locations, in keeping with U.N. figures.
The preventing got here 18 months after the 2 generals led a army coup in October 2021 that toppled a Western-backed civilian transitional authorities. The battle dashed Sudanese hopes of a peaceable transition to democracy after a well-liked rebellion compelled the army elimination of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
The conflict has turned the capital Khartoum and different city areas throughout the nation into battlefields.
Residents in Khartoum stated fierce preventing was underway early Sunday south of the capital. The warring factions had been utilizing heavy weapons within the battles within the Kalaka neighborhood and the army’s plane had been seen hovering over the realm, stated resident Abdalla al-Fatih.
In his assertion, Guterres additionally condemned an airstrike Saturday that well being authorities stated killed at the very least 22 folks in Omdurman, a metropolis simply throughout the Nile from the capital, Khartoum. The assault was one of many deadliest within the battle.
The RSF blamed the army for the assault in Omdurman. The army, in flip, denied the accusation saying in a press release Sunday that its air drive didn’t perform any airstrikes within the metropolis that day.
The secretary-general additionally decried the large-scale violence and casualties within the western area of Darfur, which has skilled among the worst preventing within the ongoing battle, Haq stated in a press release.
“There’s an utter disregard for humanitarian and human rights legislation that’s harmful and disturbing,” Guterres stated.
U.N. officers have stated the violence within the area has just lately taken an ethnic dimension, with the RSF and Arab militias reportedly focusing on non-Arab tribes in Darfur, a sprawling area consisting of 5 provinces. Final month, the governor of Darfur, Mini Arko Minawi, stated the area was sliding again to its previous genocide, referring to the battle that engulfed the area within the early 2000s.
Whole cities and villages in West Darfur province had been overrun by the RSF and their allied militias, forcing tens of hundreds of residents to flee to neighboring Chad. Activists have reported many residents killed, girls and women raped, and properties looted and burned to the bottom.
There have been clashes between the army and the RSF elsewhere in Sudan on Sunday together with the province of North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.