C T Online Desk: Fierce fighting raged in Sudan’s capital despite a pause Sunday to help those caught up in the violence, on the second day of battles that left three UN staff among more than 50 civilians killed nationwide.
Doctors say hundreds are injured, while the World Health Organization warned “several of the nine hospitals in Khartoum receiving injured civilians have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital supplies”.
The World Food Programme said it was suspending operations in the impoverished country after the killing of its three workers.
The battles between the powerful armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) sparked an international outcry and regional concern, including border closures by neighbours Egypt and Chad.
Deafening explosions and intense gunfire rattled buildings in the capital Khartoum’s densely populated northern and southern suburbs as tanks rumbled on the streets and fighter jets roared overhead, witnesses said.
Fighting continued after nightfall on Sunday, as Sudanese hunkered down in their homes with fears of a prolonged conflict that could plunge the country into deeper chaos, dashing long-held hopes for a transition to civilian-led democracy.
Violence erupted early Saturday following weeks of power struggles between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo who heads the heavily armed RSF.
The pro-democracy Central Committee of Sudan Doctors reported 56 civilians killed as well as “tens of deaths” among security forces, and around 600 wounded.
Late Sunday afternoon the army said they had “agreed to a United Nations proposal to open safe passage for humanitarian cases”, including the evacuation of wounded, for three hours, which ended at 1700 GMT.
RSF confirmed the measure, though they said it would last four hours, and both sides maintained their right to “respond in the event of transgressions” from the other side.
