Fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan has killed around 200 people and wounded 1,800, left hospitals damaged and medical supplies and food in short supply Monday after three days of urban warfare.
A weeks-long power struggle exploded into deadly violence Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Analysts say the fighting in the capital of the chronically unstable country is unprecedented and could be prolonged, despite regional and global calls for a ceasefire as diplomats mobilise.
Battles have also taken place throughout the vast country, and there are fears of regional spillover.
Terrified residents of the capital are spending the last and holiest days of Ramadan watching from their windows as tanks roll through the streets, buildings shake, and smoke from fires triggered by the fighting hangs in the air.
The conflict has seen air strikes, artillery and heavy gunfire.
Those compelled to venture out face queues for bread and petrol at outlets which are not shuttered. Residents are also dealing with power outages.
Volker Perthes, the head of the United Nations mission to Sudan, told the Security Council in a closed-door session, that at least 185 people have been killed and another 1,800 wounded.
“It’s a very fluid situation so it’s very difficult to say where the balance is shifting to,” Perthes told reporters after the meeting.
Earlier Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again called on Sudan’s warring parties to “immediately cease hostilities”. He warned that further escalation “could be devastating for the country and the region.”
