At least 26 killed, over 100 injured in the Sudanese conflict World news

The Sudanese army and powerful armed forces clashed on Saturday in the capital and other areas, dealing a new blow to hopes for a transition to democracy and raising fears of a major conflict. The national association of doctors said that at least 26 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.

The attacks fueled months of heightened tensions between the military and the Rapid Support Forces group. Those tensions have delayed an agreement with political parties to restore the country to its short-lived transition to democracy, which was ruined by the military coup of October 2021.

After a day of heavy fighting, the military ordered negotiations with the RSF, instead calling for the release of what it called “rebellious rebels.” The difficult language shows that the conflict between the former allies, who organized the 2021 rebellion, is likely to continue.

The Sudanese Medical Association did not immediately release details of where the 26 deaths occurred, but it reported that at least six of them were in the capital Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman. At least eight of the dead and 58 wounded where located in the district of Nyala, the capital of the South Darfur region in the southwest of the country.

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The fight started early Saturday. Heavy gunfire can be heard throughout the day across neighborhoods in and near the capital, where the military and RSF have mobilized thousands of troops since the coup.

Witnesses said fighters from both sides fired from armored vehicles and from machine guns mounted on trucks parked in densely populated areas. Some tanks were seen in Khartoum. The army said it launched attacks from helicopters and drones on RSF positions in and around the capital.

The army said in a statement on Saturday that its forces had captured all RSF bases in Omdurman, while residents reported heavy airstrikes on paramilitary positions in and around the capital continued into the night. . Gunshots and explosions were also heard in several areas of Khartoum, they said.

Those in Khartoum described chaotic scenes. “Fire and explosions are everywhere,” said Amal Mohamed, a doctor at the general hospital in Omdurman. “We have never seen such battles in Khartoum before,” said resident Abdel-Hamid Mustafa.

One of the flashes is Khartoum International Airport. There is no official announcement that the airport is closed, but major airlines have suspended their flights.

Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its planes was involved in what it called an “accident.” The video shows the plane burning on the tarmac. Another plane also appeared to have caught fire. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a Boeing 737 for SkyUp, a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sudan’s medical association said earlier in the day that two civilians were killed at Khartoum airport. Another man was shot dead in the state of North Kordofan, he said. The BBC said one of its journalists was detained by soldiers, taken to military headquarters and beaten.

Leaders of the armed forces and the RSF traded blame over who started the fighting on Saturday and offered conflicting accounts of who was in control of key installations.

Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan, Sudan’s military commander, told the Qatar-based satellite news agency Al Jazeera that RSF forces first “troubled” the military south of Khartoum, prompting the attacks.

Burhan accused the RSF of entering Khartoum airport and setting fire to some planes. He also said that all strategic facilities including the military headquarters and the Republican Palace, the seat of the Sudanese president, are under the control of his forces. He threatened to send more troops to Khartoum.

Head of the RSF, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, accused Burhan of starting the war by local RSF forces. “This crime, he forced this war on us,” he said.

Dagalo told Al Jazeera that he believed the fighting would end in “the next few days.”

The RSF alleged that its forces controlled strategic positions in Khartoum and the northern town of Merowe some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of the capital. The military dismissed the claims as “false.”

The fight comes after months of escalating disputes between the generals and years of political conflict since the 2021 government. The tensions stem from a dispute over how the RSF, led by Dagalo, should join the armed forces. and which authority should control the process. Reunification is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transitional agreement with political parties.

Democracy activists have accused Burhan and Dagalo of abuses against protesters across the region over the past four years, including the deadly crackdown on a protest camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum in May 2019 that killed dozens of protesters. more than 120 Many groups have repeatedly called for holding them accountable. The RSF has long been accused of atrocities linked to the Darfur conflict.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior government officials expressed deep concern over the outbreak of violence. “We urge all actors to stop the violence immediately and avoid further escalations or military buildups and continue talks to resolve the serious issues,” Blinken wrote on Twitter.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres; President of the University of the European Union, Josep Borrell; Head of the African Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat; the head of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit; and Qatar all called for a cease-fire and for both parties to return to negotiations. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called on those fighting in Sudan to exercise restraint and work towards a political solution.

Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who resigned from the 2021 coup, warned of possible regional conflict if the conflict escalated. “The shooting must stop immediately,” he said in a video appeal to both sides posted on his Twitter account.

Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Center for Policy and International Studies think tank and a former US diplomat, said that the conflict could become wider and longer, calling on the United States to form a coalition of countries region to force the leaders of the government. military and RSF to de-escalate.

Volker Perthes, the UN representative for Sudan, and the Saudi representative in Sudan, Ali Bin Hassan Jaffar, are in contact with Dagalo and Burhan to try to end the violence, a UN representative who requested anonymity to discuss internal decisions.

Chad announced that it has closed its land borders with Sudan.

The fighting also took place in other areas across the country including the Northern region, the conflict-ridden Darfur region, and the coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not. authorized to brief the media. ___ Corresponding Writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.