A total of 56 civilians have been killed and 595 injured in clashes across Sudan, the country’s medical association said early on Easter Sunday, a day after fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and paramilitaries.

According to ERT, among the wounded are two Greeks who were hit by shell fragments on Holy Saturday.

Firefights and explosions rocked Khartoum all night after a day of bloody street fighting, airstrikes and an exchange of threats between the two generals who have been in power in Sudan since the 2021 military coup.

In the capital, where most of the few citizens who came out yesterday morning fled to their homes, clouds of thick smoke billowed over the army and paramilitary bases, as well as the international airport.

Calls for the opposing sides to cease fire follow one after another: from the UN, from Washington, from Moscow, from Rome, from Riyadh, from the African Union, from the League of Arab States, from the European Union, from the former prime minister of the transitional government, Abdullah Hamdok …

On Sunday, the Arab League hastily organized an emergency meeting on Sudan at the request of Cairo, where the organization is based, and Riyadh. These are the allied states of the Sudanese army, which has become embroiled in a conflict with paramilitaries, the latter seek to overthrow him, now they want to seize power.

UN Secretary General Mr. António Guterresheld talks with the leaders of the two sides, the head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Buran and the head of the paramilitaries, Mohamed Hamdan Daghlo, as well as with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and demanded an “immediate cessation of violence”.

But the paramilitaries seem adamant. They won’t stop until they take control of “all the military bases,” their leader, General Daglo or Khameti, told Al Jazeera’s camera.

On Saturday night, speaking on United Arab Emirates TV channel Sky News Arabia, he reiterated that he was “forced” to take action. “We didn’t start this,” he snapped. “Burkhan, this criminal, must be surrendered,” he added as shots rang out around him.

“We know where you are hiding and we will come to catch you and prosecute or kill you like a dog,” he said.

The Rapid Support Force (RSF), made up of thousands of militias that fought in the Darfur war before becoming an army auxiliary, said it had taken over the international airport and the presidential palace. The military denied it.

General Burhan, for his part, has not appeared in public since yesterday morning, but in his statement he stressed that he was “captured at nine o’clock in the morning” when DTY attacked his headquarters. Now the army is calling General Burhan’s best ally until recently a “foreign-backed paramilitary group” for committing “treason.”

The army uploaded an “arrest warrant” for Khameti to Facebook: “This fugitive is wanted by justice,” the report said, while another press release announced the “dissolution” of DTY, urging its members to surrender to the authorities. .

The army launched airstrikes to “destroy” the DTY bases in Khartoum. As for the calls for both sides to return to the negotiating table: “Not possible before the dissolution of the DTY,” the same source said.

The Rapid Support Forces, for their part, are calling on the country’s 45 million citizens, including military personnel, to “join them” to oppose General Burkhan’s forces.

Residents remain locked in their homes. “In the morning I went to work, but I heard gunfire and came home,” Bakri, 24, explained.

According to eyewitnesses, two opposing camps are vying for control of the state media building.

The Air Force has urged citizens to stay at home as they will be working on Saturday night while Khartoum State has declared a public holiday today, meaning schools, banks and public services will not be open.

Burning of a Saudi passenger plane

When a military coup took place in October 2021, Generals Khameti and Burhan teamed up to overthrow the civilian-led transitional government. But over time, the former began to condemn the coup.

He recently went so far as to side with civilians – in other words, against the military – in negotiations to form a new transitional government, leading to deadlocked talks and repeated delays in any deal to end the crisis.

For days on end it was buzzing in the streets that the situation was moving towards a conflict between the army and the DTY, as the columns of the latter’s armored vehicles were converging towards Khartoum.

Some sources say DTY is pursuing a plan of elements loyal to former Sudanese dictator Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who was ousted by his generals in 2019 amid a popular uprising against his regime.

The Army denied taking over the airport, but accused DTY of “setting civilian aircraft on fire, including one Saudi Airlines aircraft”. The company confirmed.

The carrier then said it was suspending flights to and from Sudan. Egypt’s state-owned airline Egyptair announced for its part that it is suspending flights to Khartoum for at least 72 hours.

According to a video by Sudanese state media, at least one UN aircraft was destroyed at Khartoum airport.

Meanwhile, a video uploaded yesterday by DTY to Twitter shows uniformed soldiers who are described as “Egyptian soldiers who surrendered along with Sudanese soldiers” at the Maruya base (Meroy, north).

An Egyptian military spokesman said Cairo was “monitoring the situation”, confirming the “presence of Egyptian troops” in Sudan for “exercises”.

“They are safe and we will get them to Egypt,” Khameti told Sky News Arabia.

The two generals decided to clash as Sudanese politicians and the international community pressured them in recent days to sign a political agreement to restart Sudan’s transition to democracy.

Chad announced the closure of the border with Sudan.

Source: APE-ME, ERT.