During the three days of armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, at least 185 people were killed, another 1,800 civilians and soldiers were injured. This was announced during a briefing in New York by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Volker Perthes, transmits Associated Press (AP).
“Both sides must ensure the security of UN missions, embassies and medical facilities. There are serious violations,” he said.
The AP notes that the death toll could be “much higher” because the streets of the central part of the Sudanese capital – the city of Khartoum – are “many bodies that no one can reach because of the clashes”.
There was no official information on the number of civilians and soldiers killed in the fighting. A day earlier, a team of medics put the civilian death toll at 97.
According to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union, 12 out of 20 hospitals in the capital region have been “disabled” and “forcibly evacuated” due to attacks or power cuts. Four other health facilities outside Khartoum have also closed.
According to local residents, clashes with the use of artillery and other heavy weapons continued in Sudan on Monday, April 17. AP notes that the fighting was particularly fierce near each side’s headquarters – these buildings are located in residential areas. Also, clashes continued in the area of the Merov air base (350 km northwest of Khartoum), with both sides claiming to take control of the object.
Residents of Sudanese towns where fighting continues are afraid to take to the streets. At least 88 students and staff have been without food and water at Khartoum University’s faculty of engineering library since day one of the fighting, a student said in a video uploaded April 17. According to him, during the clashes, a student was killed and another injured.
The reaction of the international community
The UN, Russia, the United States, Egypt and some other countries have called on both parties to the conflict in Sudan for a truce. G7 foreign ministers condemned the fighting in a joint statement, calling for an end to it without preconditions.
At the State Department reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had telephone conversations with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF chief Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo separately. Specifically, a senior US official called for a 24-hour truce as a first step towards a longer truce, as well as “reunification of Sudanese families”.
Blinken also said that on April 17, a convoy of US embassy cars came under fire in Sudan. Preliminary information provided by the Secretary of State indicated that the attackers were linked to the RSF. At the same time, he assured that all diplomats who came under fire are safe and sound, nothing threatens their lives.
In turn, EU High Representative Josep Borrell tweeted that EU Ambassador to Sudan Aidan O’Hara “was attacked in his own residence”, without specifying details and adding that now everything was in order with the diplomat. Borrell called the incident a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention.
The armed conflict between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary structure of the Operational Support Force (RSF), which is not subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, began on 15 April. The parties accuse each other of attacks on unit headquarters. The RSF said they took control of several administrative facilities, including airports, while the army launched strikes on the positions of the Rapid Support Forces. Subsequently, the leadership of the armed forces announced that it was disbanding the RSF, refusing to negotiate with them.
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