At least 185 people have been killed and a further 1,800 injured in three days of fighting between rival factions across Sudan, according to the United Nations special representative for Sudan.
The power struggle has pitted General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the armed forces commander, against General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group.
Fighting broke out after bitter disagreements between al-Burhan and Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, about the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army – a key condition for a final deal aimed at ending a crisis that has been continuing since the 2021 coup.
On Saturday morning, fighting erupted at a military base south of Khartoum, the country’s capital.
Since then, millions of people have been trapped in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low in many areas.
Emergency services have been stopped at al-Shaab Hospital and al-Khartoum Hospital after they were bombed on April 17. Al-Shaab Hospital near the army command building was subjected to continuous shelling that injured staff and patients.
Ahmed Omar Khojaly, a journalist and political analyst in Khartoum, has told Al Jazeera that water and electricity cuts as well as “the inability of those injured to reach hospitals” is creating “a humanitarian crisis”.
Heavy fighting was also reported in and around Khartoum International Airport, where satellite imagery showed passenger planes completely destroyed. Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority closed the country’s airspace after the airport came under attack on Saturday.
Source: Aljazeera.com
