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CAIRO: Two days of tribal violence in western Sudan’s long-troubled Darfur region killed at least 5 people, tribal leaders and a rights group said on Friday.
The violence between African Masalit tribesmen and Arab shepherds in West Darfur erupted on Thursday after two armed assailants fatally shot a merchant in a remote area, leaders from both groups said.
In a statement, Masalit tribesmen accused Arab militia of being behind the killing. The slaying sparked a series of targeted attacks that killed at least four more people, the tribal leaders and the rights group both said.
Five victims were later identified by the Darfur Bar Association, a Sudanese legal group focusing on human rights in the western province. The group called on both sides to de-escalate tensions.
The violence comes as wrangling cross-party talks continue in Khartoum over how the African country will usher in a civilian government following 17 months of military rule.
Sudan has been steeped in chaos after a military coup, led by the country’s top Gen. Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, removed a Western-backed government in October 2021, upending its short-lived transition to democracy.
But last December the country’s ruling military and various pro-democracy forces signed a preliminary agreement pledging to reinstate the transition.
Last week, signatories to December’s agreement vowed to begin establishing a new civilian-led transitional government April 11. However, many major political forces in the country remain opposed to the deal.
Since the military takeover, Sudan has also seen a spike in inter-tribal violence in the country’s west and south.
Analysts see the violence and growing insecurity in Sudan’s far-flung regions as a product of the power vacuum caused by the military takeover.
The Darfur crisis was sparked in 2003 by armed opposition groups who accused the central government of excluding their regions and people from wealth and power-sharing as well as development processes.
Over 2.7 million people have been displaced and are living in camps across Darfur. About 300,000 Darfuri refuges are now living in neighboring Chad.
The UN estimates that around 4.7 million people are still affected by the situation, denied basic human rights and relying on humanitarian aid.
TOKYO: A US diplomatic convoy came under fire on Monday in Sudan in an apparent attack by fighters associated with Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, in an incident he described as “reckless” and “irresponsible.”
The incident prompted a direct warning from Blinken, who separately telephoned RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, to tell them that any danger posed to American diplomats was unacceptable.
“We have deep concerns about the overall security environment,” Blinken said at a press conference in Japan where he attended a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers.
Fighting in Sudan has killed at least 185 people and injured more than 1,800 others as both sides claimed gains in a conflict that has seen the use of air strikes and artillery.
Clashes have continued despite numerous calls from the United States and other countries for a halt to fighting as well as efforts by Egypt and the United Emirates to get the rivals to agree to a cease-fire.
JERUSALEM: A suspected Palestinian gunman wounded two men near a Jewish site in annexed east Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli authorities said, with security forces conducting a manhunt for the perpetrator.
The shooting came days before the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which has seen deadly attacks and clashes in Israel, annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police announced a suspected “shooting terror attack” in the Sheikh Jarrah sector of east Jerusalem targeting two motorists, who according to medics were rushed to hospital.
“Police and Border Police officers are at the scene conducting searches for the suspect who fled the scene,” the police said in a statement.
Israeli security forces closed off streets in the neighborhood, where an AFP journalist saw officers entering a Palestinian home, with a drone and helicopter as well as police dogs aiding the search.
Officers enforcing the shutdown prevented cars and people from moving in the center of the neighborhood, as heavily armed forces combed the area.
Police announced they had found the perpetrator’s gun near the scene of the attack, which took place near the tomb of Simeon the Just — Shimon Hatzadik in Hebrew — a site frequented by religious Jews.
The weapon was identified as a Carlo makeshift submachine gun, which Palestinians manufacture in the West Bank.
Hadassah hospital said they received a 48-year-old gunshot victim in moderate condition, and Shaare Zedek medical center said it was treating a man in his 50s, also moderately wounded.
Sheikh Jarrah was the focal point of protests against the eviction of Palestinian residents by Israeli settler organizations in the build up to and during the May 2021 war between Israel and Gaza militants.
The attack took place a day after a Palestinian woman stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli man at the Gush Etzion junction in the southern occupied West Bank.
The woman was shot by security forces and taken to hospital in moderate condition.
The conflict has this year claimed the lives of at least 96 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.
These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.
KHARTOUM, Sudan: As explosions and gunfire thundered outside, Sudanese in the capital Khartoum and other cities huddled in their homes, while the army and a powerful rival force battled in the streets for control of the country.
At least 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the fighting erupted, UN envoy Volker Perthes told reporters. The two sides are using tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas. Fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell.
The toll could be much higher because there are many bodies in the streets around central Khartoum that no one can reach because of the clashes. There has been no official word on how many civilians or combatants have been killed. The doctors’ syndicate earlier put the number of civilian deaths at 97.
The sudden outbreak of violence over the weekend between the nation’s two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of heavily armed fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low and several hospitals forced to shut down.
Top diplomats on four continents scrambled to broker a truce, and the UN Security Council was set to discuss the crisis.
Japan foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said G7 countries, whose ministers are meeting in Karuizawa, agreed that the violence in Sudan must stop immediately.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “grave concern” about Sudanese civilian deaths and injuries in separate calls with the heads of Sudan’s armed forces and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Force, a State Department official said on Tuesday.
Blinken stressed the responsibility of both generals, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo to ensure the safety of non-combatants, including diplomatic personal and humanitarian workers, the official said.
“Gunfire and shelling are everywhere,” Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, head of a union for thousands of tea vendors and other food workers, said from her home in a southern district of Khartoum.
She said a shell stuck a neighbor’s house Sunday, killing at least three people. “We couldn’t take them to a hospital or bury them.”
In central Khartoum, sustained gunfire erupted and white smoke rose near the main military headquarters, a major battle front. Nearby, at least 88 students and staffers have been trapped in the engineering college library at Khartoum University since the start of fighting, one of the students said in a video posted online Monday. One student was killed during clashes outside and another wounded, he said. They do not have food or water, he said, showing a room full of people sleeping on the floor.
Even in a country with a long history of military coups, the scenes of fighting in the capital and its adjoining city Omdurman across the Nile River were unprecedented. The turmoil comes just days before Sudanese were to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.
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The power struggle pits Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup. The violence has raised the specter of civil war just as Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule.
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 rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.
Sudan’s paramilitary force the RSF said on Tuesday it was fighting a battle to restore “the rights of our people.”
“The new revolution … is still continuing to achieve its noble goals, foremost of which is the formation of a civil government that will lead us toward a real democratic transition,” the RSF added in a statement.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said late Monday that Cairo was in “constant contact” with both the army and the RSF, urging them to halt the fighting and return to negotiations.
But both generals have thus far dug in, demanding the other’s surrender.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell tweeted that the EU ambassador to Sudan “was assaulted in his own residency,” without providing further details. EU officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dagalo, whose forces grew out of the notorious Janjaweed militias in Sudan’s Darfur region, has portrayed himself as a defender of democracy and branded Burhan as the aggressor and a “radical Islamist.” Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists.
Heavy gunbattles raged in multiple parts of the capital and Omdurman, where the two sides have brought in tens of thousands of troops, positioning them in nearly every neighborhood.
Twelve hospitals in the capital area have been “forcefully evacuated” and are “out of service” because of attacks or power outages, the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said, out of a total of around 20 hospitals. Four other hospitals outside the capital have also shut down, it added in a statement late Monday.
Hadia Saeed said she and her three children were sheltering in one room on the ground floor of their home for fear of the shelling as gunfire rattled across their Bahri district in north Khartoum. They have food for a few more days, but “after that we don’t know what to do,” she said.
Residents said fierce fighting with artillery and other heavy weapons raged Monday afternoon in the Gabra neighborhood southwest of Khartoum. People were trapped and screaming inside their homes, said Asmaa Al-Toum, a physician living in the area.
Fighting has been particularly fierce around each side’s main bases and at strategic government buildings — all of which are in residential areas.
The military on Monday claimed to have secured the main television building in Omdurman, fending off the RSF after days of fighting. State-run Sudan TV resumed broadcasting.
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Egypt faces a diplomatic challenge as Sudan plunges deeper into crisis
On Sunday, the RSF said it abandoned its main barracks and base, in Omdurman, which the armed forces had pounded with airstrikes. Online videos Monday purported to show the bodies of dozens of men said to be RSF fighters at the base, strewn over beds, the floor of a clinic and outside in a yard. The authenticity of the videos could not be confirmed independently.
The military and RSF were also fighting in most major centers around the country, including in the western Darfur region and parts of the north and the east, by the borders with Egypt and Ethiopia. Battles raged Monday around a strategic air base in Merowe, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of the capital, with both sides claiming control of the facility.
Only four years ago, Sudan inspired hope after a popular uprising helped depose long-time autocratic leader Omar Al-Bashir.
But the turmoil since, especially the 2021 coup, has frustrated the democracy drive and wrecked the economy. A third of the population — around 16 million people — now depends on humanitarian assistance in the resource-rich nation, Africa’s third largest.
Save the Children, an international charity, said it has temporarily suspended most of its operations across Sudan. It said looters raided its offices in Darfur, stealing medical supplies, laptops, vehicles and a refrigerator. The World Food Program suspended operations over the weekend after three employees were killed in Darfur, and the International Rescue Committee has also halted most operations.
With the US, European Union, African and Arab nations all calling for an end to fighting, the UN Security Council was to discuss the developments in Sudan. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was consulting with the Arab League, African Union and leaders in the region, urging anyone with influence to press for peace.
At a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy nations in Japan on Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Sudanese “want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want the civilian-led government, Sudan needs to return to that path.”
RIYADH: The president of Yemen’s leadership council has praised the efforts of Saudi Arabia and Oman for recent positive developments toward peace in the country, a Saudi foreign ministry statement said.
Head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi met Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber, on Sunday.
The council was briefed about meetings held with Houthis in Sanaa between 8 and 13 April, the statement said.
Al-Jaber said after a meeting with the leaders of the Iran-backed Houthi militia that the talks aim to revive a ceasefire and end a conflict in Yemen that has raged for eight years.
The envoy said he also wants to “support the prisoner exchange process and explore venues of dialogue between Yemeni components to reach a sustainable and comprehensive political solution.”
Since the meetings, hundreds of prisoners have been exchanged between government-controlled Aden and Sanaa, reuniting with their families ahead of next week’s Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr.
The council said the efforts underscored the importance of moving forward with the necessary humanitarian steps to alleviate the suffering of Yemeni in all Governorates, according to the statement.
CAIRO: Officials in Cairo say they have been working around the clock in recent days to guarantee the safety of Egyptian citizens living, working, and studying in neighboring Sudan since violence erupted there between rival military factions on Saturday.
The violence broke out after weeks of power struggles between the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup — Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
As of Monday, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 97 civilians, according to medics who spoke to the AFP news agency. Authorities in Cairo say they are alert to the deteriorating situation and the safety of their citizens caught up in the violence.
There are an estimated 10,000 Egyptian citizens currently in Sudan, including around 5,000 students, most of whom live in the capital, Khartoum, which has witnessed significant clashes in recent days.
In a statement, Soha Gendy, Egypt’s minister of emigration and expatriate affairs, said it was difficult to provide an accurate figure for the number of Egyptians currently in Sudan as many do not register upon arrival.
Sudan is an integral part of Egyptian and Arab national security … I affirm Egypt’s support for stability in Sudan.
Obaida ElDandarawy, Head of the Egyptian delegation at the meeting of the Council of the League of Arab States
Nevertheless, the presence of such a large Egyptian community in Sudan represents a serious diplomatic challenge for Cairo, which is striving to achieve stability for its crisis-stricken neighbor while at the same time looking out for the safety of its citizens.
Among those based in the county are a large number of Egyptian engineers developing water management infrastructure and irrigation systems on the Nile River in cooperation with their Sudanese counterparts.
Hani Sewilam, Egypt’s minister of water resources and irrigation, says he and his colleagues have been in constant contact with his ministry’s mission in Sudan to check on the condition of its workforce, particularly those operating in areas of conflict.
Sewilam confirmed in a statement that he is following up around the clock on the situation of the mission’s personnel in Sudan and is coordinating with the relevant ministries to provide all necessary care and support.
“The Egyptian irrigation mission in Sudan includes a number of Egyptian experts, engineers, and workers,” Ahmed Abdel Moaty, an Egyptian commentator, told Arab News.
“It is a mission that has existed for years, especially with the increase in cooperation between the two countries in the field of irrigation and water resources.”
Of particular concern are the many Egyptian students studying at Sudanese universities.
Ayman Ashour, Egypt’s minister of higher education and scientific research, said his department is in regular contact with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help ensure their safety.
“The cultural affairs and missions’ sector in the ministry will send emails to Egyptian students studying in Sudanese universities to check on their safety,” he said in a statement.
“The Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum confirmed the stability of the conditions of Egyptian students and that it is in constant contact with our students around the clock until the end of the current situation.”
The minister urged Egyptian students in Sudan to communicate with the embassy if they are in need of support or if they are exposed to threats to their safety.
Since the uptick in violence began over the weekend, Khartoum and other cities across Sudan have witnessed air strikes, tanks on the streets, artillery fire and heavy gunfire in crowded neighborhoods, triggering international calls for an immediate ceasefire.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Sudan’s warring parties to “immediately cease hostilities, restore calm, and begin a dialogue to resolve the crisis.”
Guterres said “any further escalation” of the conflict between the army and paramilitary forces led by rival generals “could be devastating for the country and the region.”
Meanwhile, Egyptian officials have been working behind the scenes to help reduce tensions.
In a statement, Obaida ElDandarawy, head of the Egyptian delegation participating in a meeting of the Council of the League of Arab States to address the crisis, stressed the necessity of “coordinating Arab positions to restore stability in Sudan, as Sudan is an integral part of Egyptian and Arab national security.”
ElDandarawy called on the Sudanese parties to exercise restraint.
Solidifying security and stability is the key guarantor for completing the trajectory of political transition in Sudan.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir
In a statement to Arab News, he said: “The Egyptian missions in Sudan, including the educational missions, Al-Azhar, the Egyptian Irrigation Mission, the National Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian consulates in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa, as well as the Egyptian private sector companies, EgyptAir, and the Middle East News Agency, are all safe.
“Sudan represents the strategic depth of Egypt, as the fate of the people of the Nile Valley is a common destiny, and I affirm Egypt’s support for stability in Sudan and the need to settle contentious points to get out of the current crisis.”
In a phone call on Monday, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, spoke to Abdalla Hamdok, the former prime minister of Sudan removed in the 2021 coup, during which they exchanged views on the current crisis and ways to stop military confrontations in the country.
According to his spokesperson, Aboul Gheit told Hamdok that escaping the current crisis will require all components of the political spectrum, whether civilians or military, to unite and work together in the public interest.
Aboul Gheit agreed with Hamdok on the priority of de-escalation, the immediate cessation of armed clashes, ensuring the security of the civilian population, and restoring calm, and emphasizing that all problems can be addressed through dialogue.
On Sunday, Aboul Gheit also spoke to Guterres, during which he discussed ways of coordination between the Arab League and the UN in dealing with the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
The RSF was created under Sudan’s former ruler Omar Al-Bashir in 2013. It emerged from the Janjaweed militia that his government unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in Darfur a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
The latest fighting broke out after disagreements between Burhan and Dagalo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army — a key condition for a final deal aimed at ending a crisis since the 2021 coup.
The coup derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of Al-Bashir, triggering international aid cuts and sparked near-weekly protests met by a deadly crackdown.
Burhan, who rose through the ranks under the three-decade rule of now-jailed Al-Bashir, has said the coup “necessary” to include more factions in politics.
Dagalo later called the coup a “mistake” that failed to bring about change and reinvigorated remnants of Al-Bashir’s regime ousted by the army in 2019 following mass protests.
The two sides accuse each other of starting the fighting, and both claim to be in control of key sites, including the airport and the presidential palace.
On Monday, the RSF claimed on its social media accounts to have taken control of Merowe Airport, about 350 km north of Khartoum.
• 97 Civilians killed in the conflict as of Monday, according to medics
“The strategic goal of the Rapid Support Forces in Merowe is not the airport, but rather the Merowe Dam,” Hassan Al-Saouri, a Sudanese political expert and professor of political science, said in a statement circulated by activists on social media.
“It is true that Merowe Airport is the alternative to Khartoum International Airport, but the Rapid Support Forces seem to be targeting the Merowe Dam specifically, given that it works to guard it and therefore can control it, stop it, and form an economic blockade by striking energy as it controls water in the northern region of Sudan, which is an important, vital, and strategic area for Sudan.”
