Fighting leaves 56 civilians dead, as well as three UN personnel, and 600 injured
The UN Security Council urges an immediate end to the fighting
MADRID, 16 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Sudanese Army warplanes began bombing again early this Sunday the positions of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the second day of fighting in and around the country’s capital, Khartoum, while the Hostilities have spread in particular to the east of the country, at a provisional cost of 56 civilian deaths and 600 wounded.
The cities closest to Khartoum, such as its sister city Omdurman and Bahri (also known as North Khartoum), are being the scene of shelling and light and heavy artillery crossings, as is also the case in the cities of Kasala and Gadarif, on the border with Eritrea, and in Port Sudan, in the northeast.
Both sides have also confirmed hostilities in the city of Damazin, in the south of the country, where the military have reportedly destroyed 35 RSF vehicles, while the governor of North Darfur, a huge region that covers a large portion of the double border with Chad and Libya, it has also been able to verify clashes.
Last night, three members of local United Nations personnel were also known to have died in the city of El Fasher, in West Darfur, victims of fighting between the Army and paramilitaries at a military base in the area, according to a report. UN internal collected by the Bloomberg agency.
The army and paramilitaries have been announcing victories all night in different parts of the capital without any possibility of verifying their information given the prevailing chaos. While the military assures that they have taken over an RSF base in the Karari district, the paramilitaries announced this morning on their Twitter account the downing of a Sukhoi military plane that had been bombing their positions in the city for the last few hours.
The balance of victims is being provided by the Sudan Medical Committee, one of the few civil organizations qualified to make this kind of estimation as it did in other previous episodes of violence in the country. For now, the group estimates that approximately 56 civilians have died and another 595 have been injured, while the number of deaths and injuries among the military and paramilitaries is in the “dozens.”
Sudanese doctors have also requested urgent medical equipment and “specialists of all kinds, surgeons and anesthesiologists” in the three hospitals in the capital: Bashair, East Nile and International.
In recent hours, the United Nations Security Council has demanded that the Army and paramilitaries put an immediate end to hostilities and return to the civil transition process that they were one step away from signing at the beginning of the month and that has now collapsed due to complete.
“The members of the Security Council express their deep concern over the clashes between the Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, as well as their regret over the loss of life, including those of civilians,” according to a statement published by the Ambassador of USA in Sudan, John Godfrey, on his Twitter account.
“The Security Council,” the note added, “urge all parties to immediately cease hostilities and restore calm, and ask all the actors involved to return to dialogue to resolve the current crisis.”
Likewise, the highest executive body of the United Nations urges the parties to keep the access routes to humanitarian aid open and guarantee the safety of their personnel. “The members of the Security Council reaffirm their firm commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Sudan,” the note concludes.
