Sudan – Fighting. ‘The time of victory is near’ says the government army

On Sunday afternoon, Reuters reported that 59 civilians, including three UN staff, had been killed in fighting between the government army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan since Saturday.

The number of soldiers and paramilitaries killed in the clashes is unknown, but Sudanese doctors say “dozens died”.

The Sudanese army carried out airstrikes on an RSF base in the country’s largest city, Omdurman, on Saturday night, Reuters reported, citing eyewitnesses. On Sunday morning, fighting was heard again in many parts of Sudan. The capital is Khartoum, Omdurman and nearby Bahri and the city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

Sunday was declared a public holiday in Khartoum province and schools, banks and government offices were closed.

Later in the afternoon, both sides of the conflict agreed to a three-hour humanitarian pause from 16:00 to 19:00 local time as proposed by the United Nations, the agency said.

An agency witness from Khartoum said the sightings initially appeared subdued, but heavy shelling was soon reported. In the background of a live broadcast from Sudan’s capital, gunfire could still be heard and clouds of smoke could be seen.

Doctors associations have earlier reported that doctors and patients are struggling to get in and out of hospitals and have called on the army and RSF to provide humanitarian access.

“The time of victory is near,” Sudan’s military said in a statement on Sunday. “We pray for mercy for the innocent lives taken by these reckless acts by the insurgent Rapid Support Militia… Soon, God willing, our patient and proud people will have good news,” it added.

But the serious problem, according to witnesses and residents, was that thousands of RSF members were heavily armed with no control in Khartoum districts and other cities. – We are scared, we do not sleep for 24 hours because of noise and shaking houses. We are worried that my diabetic father will run out of water, food and medicine,” said Huda, who lives in the southern city of Khartoum, as quoted by Reuters.

“There’s so much misinformation, everybody’s lying, we don’t know when it’s going to end or how it’s going to end,” he added.

On Saturday, a Boeing 737 of Ukrainian carrier SkyUp caught fire as a result of a fight at the airport. “The condition of the aircraft and potential damage cannot be determined at this time,” he said on Facebook. “The 36 staff in Sudan are currently staying in a relatively safe location and are in contact with them,” SkyUp reported. The company explains that SkyUp flights are based in Sudan under an agreement with local airline Sun Air.

The armed conflict in Sudan is the result of weeks of hidden rivalry between two generals – the country’s de facto military commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Daghlo, known as “Hemeti”.

Read more about the breakdown of the conflict in Sudan

During the coup in October 2021, the two generals formed a common front to “protect the public from the authorities”. Over time, however, Hemeti denounced the coup and sided with the public, which brought him into conflict with al-Burhan. A dispute between two prominent generals in this African country has not resolved the domestic political crisis.

As part of the changes proposed by the government, the RSF was to be integrated into the regular armed forces, but the generals could not agree on when this should take place, and the dispute turned into an armed struggle.

The United States, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UN, the European Union and the African Union called for an immediate end to hostilities.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he consulted with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and during these talks it was agreed that an immediate end to the war without any preconditions was necessary.