Fighting continues for another day Sudanwhere military and paramilitary organizations vie for power despite truce promises from both sides and warnings from USA impose sanctions.

Five million residents of the capital Khartoum woke up on the 21st day to the sound of airstrikes and automatic weapons.

Clashes between the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Operational Support Force (RSF) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hamedi, erupted on April 15, resulting in about 700 deaths so far. ACLED, a non-governmental organization dedicated to counting the victims of conflicts.

“Dangerous disregard” for the lives of civilians

In Khartoum, factories, banks and shops have been looted or damaged, electricity and drinking water have been cut off, and residents complain about soaring prices for basic products, as well as shortages.

“The warring armies of Sudan are showing a dangerous disregard for the lives of civilians by using inaccurate weapons in residential areas,” Sudanese Human Rights Organization researcher Mohamed Osman said in an NGO report documenting damage to hospitals and water treatment plants.

The Sudanese Medical Association said one of the country’s main maternity hospitals in the city of Omdurman was looted and taken over by militants on Thursday.

As a result of the clashes, 17 hospitals were damaged, 20 of them were evacuated since the beginning of hostilities. Sixty of the 88 hospitals in Khartoum are closed, and many of them offer limited services.

“Protracted” conflict

US President Joe Biden raised his tone yesterday: “The tragedy (…) must stop,” he said, warning of imposing sanctions on “those who threaten the peace,” without naming anyone.

The US lifted two decades of sanctions against Sudan, a country of 45 million people, in 2020 alone after the military toppled dictator Omar al-Bashir last year.

After the 2021 coup, Burkhan and Dagalo expelled all the politicians with whom they previously shared power. They disagreed with the integration of DTY into the military. Since then, no one seems to be able to reconcile them.

On Tuesday, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir announced that he had reached an “agreement in principle” on a ceasefire until Thursday.

But U.S. Director of Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haynes warned yesterday during a Senate hearing that a “protracted” conflict is to be expected as “both camps believe they are capable of winning by military means” and have “little incentive to sit down at the negotiating table.” .

“Every extra minute of war people are killed or thrown into the streets, society and the state are falling apart,” lamented Khalid Omar Youssef, a former Sudanese minister.

UN: Crisis should not go beyond borders

More than 5,000 people have been injured in the clashes, at least 335,000 people have been displaced internally, and another 115,000 people have been forced to leave the country, which seeks 402 million euros to help Sudan, one of the world’s poorest countries, according to the UN.

The UN warns that 860,000 people, Sudanese and many South Sudanese returning to their country, may leave Sudan in the coming months.

According to the UN, “by May 3, more than 50,000 people” had crossed the border into Egypt, “more than 11,000” into Ethiopia and “30,000 into Chad.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was “absolutely necessary” that the crisis does not spread beyond the country’s borders.

In Darfur, to the west and bordering Chad, civilians have armed themselves and are taking part in conflicts involving the military, paramilitaries, rebels and tribals, according to the UN.

“African Solutions”

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), whose offices were looted, counted “at least 191 deaths, dozens of buildings burned and thousands of displaced people” in Darfur, which was rocked by conflicts in the 2000s that killed some 300,000 people and who caused the displacement. out of 2.5 million people.

Eyewitnesses spoke yesterday of fighting in El Obeid, 300 kilometers south of the capital.

The conflict-free coastal city of Port Sudan received 30 tons of aid today. The UN and a growing number of NGOs are trying to negotiate the delivery of aid to Khartoum and Darfur.

Diplomatic efforts

As diplomatic initiatives grew in Africa and the Middle East, the military called for “African solutions to the problems of the continent”, although it welcomed the mediation of the US and Saudi Arabia.

Burhan’s envoy was in Addis Ababa yesterday. Cairo reported that a telephone conversation had taken place with two rival generals.

On Sunday, Arab League foreign ministers will meet to discuss the crisis in Sudan.

The military pledged to “appoint an envoy to negotiate a ceasefire” with paramilitaries under the auspices of the “presidents of South Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti.”

DTY replies that they only accept a three-day truce, not a seven-day one, and are negotiating with many countries and organizations.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP, Reuters.}