Almost a civil war: Over 200 dead in Sudan as combatants attack the US convoy, and EU envoys
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Nearly 200 people died and hundreds were injured in the ongoing ‘civil war’ between the forces of friends-turned-foes that broke out four days ago between the Sudanese army and a powerful militia as a US diplomatic convoy and the EU envoy also came under attack, the media reported on Tuesday.
The convoy attack, along with earlier assaults on aid workers and the EU envoy’s residence in the capital of Khartoum, signaled Sudan’s further descent into chaos since the widespread violence erupted over the last weekend.
The Indian Embassy in Khartoum advised the Indians to stay indoors after an Indian was reported killed. Some 4,000 Indians live in Sudan. Around 30 Indian students are currently stranded in the war-torn nation.
Washington said on Tuesday that a US Embassy convoy came under fire in Sudan and denounced “indiscriminate military operations” as the African country’s armed forces and its rival gang unleashed heavy weapons in urban areas.
The convoy of clearly marked embassy vehicles was attacked on Monday. Preliminary reports link the assailants to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group (militia) battling Sudan’s military, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters, adding everyone in convoy was safe.
According to the United Nations, over 185 people have been killed and 1,800 wounded, including civilians and combatants. The overall death toll could be much higher because clashes in Khartoum have prevented the removal of bodies in some areas.
The two sides have been using tanks, artillery, and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas. Late Monday, fighter jets swooped overhead, and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell.
Satellite images showed damage across Khartoum, including security service buildings as tanks stood guard, and some 20 damaged aircraft at Khartoum International Airport, which also has a military side. At air bases, north and south of Khartoum, several fighter jets were among the destroyed aircraft.
World diplomats have urged the two rival generals — armed forces chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF leader General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — to halt the fighting. The State Department said Blinken spoke by phone separately with them and “I made very clear (in my calls) that any attacks or threats or dangers posed to our diplomats were totally unacceptable.”
Dagalo said he had approved a 24-hour humanitarian truce after speaking to Blinken while the Sudanese military said more troops would join the battle and that it would “widen the scope of its operations” against the RSF.
Burhan and Dagalo, former allies who jointly orchestrated an October 2021 coup, later fell out and are now at each other’s throats. The violence has raised the specter of civil war just as the Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule.
The Sudanese military blamed the RSF, which grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan’s Darfur region, for the attack on the US convoy and an earlier assault on the home of the EU envoy in Khartoum.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, tweeted Monday that the EU ambassador to Sudan “was assaulted in his own residency,” without further details. The RSF denied involvement in the attack on the ambassador’s home, instead blaming the military.
Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo had recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups, but the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions mounted over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.
Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists. Only four years ago, Sudan inspired hope after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocratic leader Omar al-Bashir.
