Hospitals and aid groups become targets in Sudan fighting

Face attacks as death toll rises to at least 180

NAIROBI, Kenya — As two rival generals, each with his own army, grappled for power in Sudan on Monday, even hospitals trying to tend to the swelling numbers of wounded were no longer havens.

At one overwhelmed medical center, the morning began with shelling. Then, members of a paramilitary force barged inside, ordered newborns and other patients to be evacuated, and began taking up positions, one doctor said.

“The hospital turned into a battlefield,” said the doctor, Musab Khojali, an emergency room physician at the Police Hospital in Burri, northeast of the capital, Khartoum.

Many other hospitals were also reported to have come under attack on Monday, the third day of fighting in Sudan.

The death toll has risen to at least 180, with about 1,800 others injured.

The two generals, who together seized power in a coup in 2021, have turned against each other — rebuffing all attempts by mediators who for months had been pressing them to unite their fighting forces under one umbrella, relinquish power, and allow a transition to civilian rule.

Amid growing reports of random violence and looting, concerns grew that the fighting might embroil other nations in the region, including Egypt, which has troops in the country, as well as Chad, Ethiopia, and Libya. Russia has also been trying to make inroads in Sudan, and members of the Kremlin-affiliated Wagner private military company are posted there.

Leaders from around the world called for a cease-fire, but it was not clear who, if anyone, was in control of Sudan, Africa’s third-largest country by area.

The fighting began Saturday, when forces loyal to Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, began clashing with forces loyal to the Sudanese army chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

Only the army has aircraft, and on Monday, Dagalo accused his rival of “bombing civilians from the air.” The Sudanese army said in a statement that it was “operating within the rules of conflict and international humanitarian law.”

The turn of events has worsened a crisis in a nation where one-third of its 45 million people were already in need of food aid. Now, the violence has forced aid groups to suspend operations. The United Nations World Food Program said three of its workers were killed.

And on Monday, the UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, said gunmen had been looting and burning warehouses holding critically needed aid, as well as guesthouses and offices of agencies such as the World Food Program and UNICEF.

UN Secretary General António Guterres said he had spoken with both warring generals and expressed deep concern. “The humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for an immediate cease-fire, and said Dagalo and Burhan must “ensure the protection of civilians and noncombatants, as well as people from third countries, including our personnel who are located in Sudan.”

But for now, even the much more modest goal of a cease-fire appears elusive.

Perthes said he was talking to the leaders of both military factions daily, and that they had made it clear that they had no intention of ending the fighting. They are, however, receptive to the idea of a “pause” to allow humanitarian access, he said.

Although the toll on civilians has been most evident in Khartoum, aid workers say they are also concerned by the situation outside the capital, and especially in western Darfur.

Save the Children, an aid organization, said Monday that looters had stolen medical supplies for children, as well as a refrigerator, laptops, and cars in a raid on one of its offices in Darfur. The group’s Sudan director called on the combatants to safeguard humanitarian services.