SUDAN FACES ‘CATASTROPHE’ AMID FIGHTING, HAMDOK SAYS
▶ Former prime minister calls for dialogue as regional leaders prepare to push for reconciliation
Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces declined peace efforts before deadly violence erupted in the country, former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok has said.
While he said yesterday that the country was at a “catastrophic” moment, he remains optimistic there will be talks about bringing about the shift towards democratic elections.
Mr Hamdok, the former leader of the civilian arm of Sudan’s transitional government, spoke after about 60 were killed in the unrest.
Army units loyal to military leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, head of the Sovereign Council, battled with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy leader of the council.
The two sides have become increasingly opposed over the role of the military and armed groups in Sudan. “I appealed to the warring sides and said that the winner of this war is a loser. I appealed to the international community to help Sudan in this plight,” Mr Hamdok said in Abu Dhabi.
“The war needs to end tomorrow to allow the country to move into the transitional period that began three years ago.
“Peace is the only valid option for the people to avoid slipping into civil war.”
He held “long talks” with the military and RSF before the fighting erupted. “They both said dialogue isn’t an option for them,” Mr Hamdok said.
“Now I’m finding it hard to communicate with them but I’m going to exert the maximum efforts to reach the people around them.
“I’m still optimistic, I’m a born optimist. No matter how grim things seem there’s still a chance for sitting down and resolving issues.”
The RSF seized key sites in
Khartoum on Saturday, but the military appeared to have the upper hand yesterday.
Three UN staff were among those killed despite a pause in the fighting yesterday.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development plans to send the presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti in an effort to reconcile warring sides, Kenyan President William Ruto’s office said.
Tension remains high in Sudan after about 60 were killed during a weekend of violence as the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled for power.
Volker Perthes, the UN Special Representative for Sudan, said yesterday that the leaders of both sides had committed to “a temporary pause in fighting on humanitarian grounds”.
The halt in fighting, which generals of Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agreed to “on humanitarian grounds” from 4pm to 7pm local time did not last.
The UN World Food Programme yesterday said it was temporarily halting its operations in Sudan after three employees were killed in North Darfur.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded that people responsible for the deaths face “justice without delay,” his representative said.
Mr Perthes had pushed for a cessation in the fighting but it was not clear if that was honoured by both sides before the agreement collapsed yesterday.
Calls for a halt to hostilities made by world powers, including the US, the EU and the African Union went unheeded. Air strikes hit RSF bases in and outside Khartoum on Saturday night, witnesses said.
An independent medical group associated with the country’s pro-democracy movement and other observers said yesterday that at least 59 civilians had been killed and as many as 600 wounded since the fighting began on Saturday.
Neither the army nor the RSF released casualty figures, but they are believed to have lost scores of soldiers.
Early yesterday, the streets of Khartoum, a city of nearly seven million people, were deserted except for soldiers from both sides and their armoured vehicles and tanks.
It was not clear what had caused a large fire at the army’s headquarters in the centre of Khartoum.
The opposing forces released claim and counterclaim during the fighting.
The RSF said it had taken control of the Republican Palace, the army headquarters and Khartoum airport.
Army chief and Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan said the military was in control.
He ordered officers and soldiers seconded to the RSF to immediately report back to their original army units.
The airport was closed and airlines including Egypt Air, Saudia and Emirates said they were suspending flights.
Residents said battles were fought around the airport for most of Saturday.
Passengers at Khartoum airport on Saturday were pictured cowering on the floor, with the sound of gunfire in the background.
The military said members of the RSF entered the airport on Saturday and set fire to several civilian aircraft, including a Saudia Airbus.
The airline later said one of its aircraft in Khartoum had been involved in an “accident”.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, joined the calls for a ceasefire.
He “indicated the importance of joint co-operation in order to contain the current situation, stop the escalation, ensure the protection of civilians, and push towards peaceful paths”, state news agency Wam reported.
Fighting outside the state radio and television complex in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman continued after nightfall on Saturday.
It was not clear who controlled the complex.
Khartoum residents yesterday spoke of their fear as fighting in the city intensified.
“They have no mercy. This is it, Sudan is gone and our future as a people is gone with it,” said Asmaa Sadeeq, a doctor.
“My children have been crying. They are scared and there is that terrible feeling I have that I could lose a loved one any minute.”
Rania Mahmoud, who has three children, said her husband went to pull two of their children out of school on Saturday as fighting escalated.
“The school is in Khartoum, and we live in Bahri [one of Khartoum’s two twin cities]. They could not make their way back to Bahri, so they are staying with relatives at Khartoum,” she said. “The situation is terrifying.
“No one thought it could come to that.”
Houses in the district of Burry shook and windows were blown out.
Artillery shells landed in some residential areas in Khartoum and Omdurman, residents said.
Video footage shared online by the army yesterday showed Gen Al Burhan greeting troops standing on top of army tanks on Saturday night. Gen Al Burhan briefly shook hands with the soldiers as he passed with his aides.
“We know where you are hiding and we will get to you and hand you over to justice,” RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo said, referring to Gen Al Burhan.
Gen Dagalo also called his rival a “war criminal” and later told Sky News Arabia that Gen Al Burhan “must surrender.”
The fighting in Khartoum is the deadliest in living memory in a city that has been the scene of at least a dozen military takeovers, some of them violent, since independence in 1956.
It came despite efforts to restore Sudan’s democratic transition, upended by a 2021 military takeover.
There is a deadlock over disagreements on the integration of the RSF into the nation’s armed forces.
It is also taking place in the final 10 days of Ramadan, when observing Muslims focus on their spirituality and prayers.
Sudan is an overwhelmingly Muslim country.
There was fighting in other parts of the country, including in cities north and west of the capital.
The RSF claimed that its men had seized the airport in the northern city of Merowe and an adjacent military base.
It said it was in control of the airport in the western city of Al Obeid.
There were reports of fighting in the Darfur cities of Nyala and El Fasher.
The clashes came two days after the army said a recent mobilisation by the RSF in Khartoum and other major cities posed a danger to national security and constituted a breach of the law and the paramilitary’s own regulations.
The RSF emerged from militias that fought on the government’s side in the conflict that broke out in Darfur two decades ago.
The militias were accused at the time of atrocities against civilians in the war that left 300,000 dead and displaced another 2.5 million.
The RSF was legitimised in 2013 and is now thought to be a force of about 100,000 men, many of them stationed in Khartoum since 2019.
Gen Dagalo is also known to enjoy the support of Russia and several big regional powers.
Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo jointly staged a military takeover in October 2021. The generals also co-operated in removing dictator Omar Al Bashir from power in 2019.
Army leader Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan was pictured greeting troops who were standing on top of army tanks