For the third week, fierce fighting continues in Sudan with aerial bombardments and incessant shooting in the capital Khartoum and thousands of people fleeing the country to escape the “explosion” of violence. For its part, its general secretary UNAntónio Guterres, warned that the country was “collapsing”.

The country plunged into chaos on April 15, when a power struggle broke out between the head of the military junta, General Abdel Fattah al-Buran, and the deputy commander of the military regime, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, or “Hameti”. head of the fearsome Rapid Support Force (RSF), turned into a war.

Fighting has since killed at least 528 people and injured 4,599 more, according to the latest official data from the Health Ministry on Saturday.

This is clearly an underestimation, since the corpses lie on the roads, which are impassable, it is impossible to make an accurate count of the victims.

Tens of thousands of Sudanese, as well as foreigners, have fled to neighboring states, notably Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad and South Sudan, while foreign governments continue their desperate efforts to hastily evict hundreds of their citizens.

c.g. UN Secretary-General António Guterres summed up the situation yesterday in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, saying that “the war for power continues as the country collapses.”

Rivals continue to accuse each other of violating an international ceasefire agreement that will theoretically last until Sunday midnight (01:00 Monday Greek time).

Civilians are trying to escape or survive, locked in their homes, without electricity, running water, food.

“Fighting is going on with the use of heavy weapons and machine guns,” said a resident of the capital Khartoum. Another resident of Khartoum spoke of “explosions and fires” in the districts.

According to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union, about 70% of hospitals in war zones are closed.

“God forbid” if Sudan plunges into a real civil war

On the eve of Friday, the rival generals accused each other in parallel media interviews.

On Al-Hura TV, General Burhan called the DTY “a paramilitary group that wants to destroy the Sudan” with the help of “mercenaries from Chad, the Central African Republic and Niger.”

Hameti, for his part, in an interview with the BBC called his opponent a “traitor”, a person “not trustworthy”.

The two generals pushed civilians out of the transitional government with them when they staged a coup in October 2021 that toppled former dictator Omar al-Bashir two years earlier. But their disagreements began to grow, and on April 15 their disagreements over the conditions for the inclusion of paramilitary formations in the regular forces resulted in open war.

For the UN Special Envoy to Sudan, German diplomat Volker Perthes, despite perceived tensions, there was “no indication” of what would happen in mid-April, as he told Al Jazeera the two generals were to meet to discuss this day. .

Although the guns have not been silenced since then, Salva Kiir, President of South Sudan and historically the mediator in Sudan, called on the two rival generals for “personal, constructive and firm dialogue” yesterday Saturday. “.

He also asked them “not to try to strengthen their positions” as several observers said the truce was not respected because neither side wanted to give the other a chance to move forward or gather reinforcements.

“God forbid, if Sudan reaches the stage of a real civil war (…), it will be a real nightmare for the whole world,” Nairobi’s former acting prime minister, Abdullah Hamdok, warned yesterday Saturday.

According to the United Nations, 75,000 people have been displaced as a result of fighting, especially in Darfur, a region where war raged in the 2000s.

While the proposed ceasefire did not stop the fighting, it did allow civilian evacuation corridors to remain open. Thus, the convoy, organized by the US authorities, was able to deliver US citizens and others to Port Sudan. From there, another ship took about 1,900 people to Saudi Arabia, which has received about 5,000 people, Saudis and foreigners, so far.

Among them, Merdad Malekzad, one of the last Iranians expelled from the country on Saturday, described daily explosions and bombings in Khartoum. “I never thought it would come to this.”

“Society is falling apart”

The British government announced on Saturday that it had evacuated nearly 1,900 people from Sudan since Tuesday. Those who were eligible for emergency evacuation had to arrive at the air base before yesterday morning and board the last RAF flights.

“The window of opportunity is closing,” the Canadian government warned, noting that it “continues to consider various options” for land and sea routes.

The UN estimates that millions of Sudanese are also at risk of starvation, which already affects a third of the citizens of the country, one of the poorest on the planet.

Looting, destruction and arson have increased in Western Darfur, even in camps for displaced persons, complained the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The NGO was forced to “cease almost all activities [της]”.

At least 100 people have been killed in fighting in the capital El Geneina in recent days, according to the UN.

“Society is collapsing, we see how the tribes are now trying to arm themselves,” António Guterres said.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}