According to AFP correspondents, windows rattled and buildings shook in many areas of the capital, Khartoum, during clashes on Saturday, and explosions were heard early on Sunday. “The total number of civilian deaths has reached 56 people,” said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, an independent and pro-democracy organization, also speaking of “tens of deaths” among the security forces, not counted in this report. balance sheet.
600 injured
The Committee said it had counted some 600 wounded, particularly among the security forces, and that many victims could not be transferred to hospitals because of travel difficulties linked to the clashes. A count released earlier in a statement from the Union of Doctors, another organization, had reported “27 people killed”, including two at the airport in the capital Khartoum, and 170 injured.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – thousands of ex-Darfur war militiamen turned army auxiliaries – said they control the presidential residence, Khartoum airport and other key infrastructure. The army denies taking the airport but acknowledges that the FSRs “burned civilian planes there, including one from Saudi Airlines”, which the company confirmed.
International calls for ceasefire
In a statement released late Saturday, the Sudanese army asked the population to stay at home as it continued its airstrikes against paramilitary bases. Throughout the day, calls for a ceasefire have multiplied: from the UN, Washington, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Riyadh, the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union and even the former Prime civilian minister Abdallah Hamdok. But in vain.
The Arab League announced an emergency meeting on Sunday on Sudan, at the request of Cairo – where it sits – and Riyadh, two major allies of the Sudanese army, struggling with the paramilitaries who now want to dislodge it from power . UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on the two belligerents: army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and paramilitary boss Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, known as “Hemedti”, but also Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to demand “an immediate end to the violence”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for “resumption of negotiations”, tweeting on Sunday that “the clashes between (the Sudanese army) and the RSF threaten the security and safety of Sudanese civilians”.
“Treason”
The paramilitaries say they are inflexible. They “will not stop until they have taken control of all the military bases”, threatened on al-Jazeera channel Commander Hemedti, head of the FSR. General Burhane has not appeared since the morning, but claims in a press release that he was “surprised at nine o’clock in the morning” by an attack on his HQ by the FSR, his former best ally whom the army now describes as “foreign-backed militia” to carry out his “betrayal”.
The army has published a “wanted notice” against Hemedti on its Facebook page. ‘This fugitive criminal is wanted by justice,’ the photo montage reads, as another statement announces the disbandment of the FSR, calling on all their men to surrender. On both sides, no more hushed negotiations under the aegis of diplomats and other polite discussions; the army mobilized its planes to strike – and “destroy”, it says – RSF bases in Khartoum. As for calls to return to the negotiating table, the army replied that it was “impossible before the dissolution of the FSR”.
The latter call on the 45 million Sudanese and even the military to “join them” and turn against the army. The inhabitants, themselves, remain cloistered at home. Bakry, 24, told AFP that he had “never seen anything like it” in Khartoum. “People were terrified, they were running home. The streets emptied very quickly,” said the marketing employee, who gave only his first name.
Difficult political agreement
The two sides are still battling for control of the state media headquarters, according to witnesses. During the putsch in October 2021, Hemedti and General Burhane joined forces to oust civilians from power. But over time, Hemedti never stopped denouncing the coup. Even recently, he sided with civilians – therefore against the army in political negotiations – blocking discussions and therefore any solution to the crisis in Sudan.
For the experts, the two commanders have not ceased in recent days to raise the stakes as civilians and the international community try to make them sign a political agreement supposed to relaunch the democratic transition.