Fighting rages in Sudan where 180 unidentified bodies have been buried

June 3, 2023

Air raids, artillery fire and explosions rocked Khartoum again on Saturday as deadly fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan, entering its 8th week, forced volunteers to bury 180 unidentified bodies.

The noise of the fighting echoes in the northern suburbs of Khartoum and a rain of shells fell on the south of the capital, injuring several civilians, residents told AFP on Saturday.

The army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, targeted with its planes the positions of the paramilitaries of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo’s Rapid Support Forces (FSR), who responded with anti-aircraft battery fire, according to other inhabitants of the capital.

Since the beginning of the bloody war between the two rival generals on April 15, humanitarians and volunteers have, according to them, had difficulty in recovering the bodies “due to security constraints”.

The Sudanese Red Crescent said in a statement on Saturday that 180 unidentified bodies were buried: 102 in southern Khartoum and 78 in Darfur.

The conflict has already cost the lives of more than 1,800 people and created more than one and a half million displaced persons and refugees.

Talks in Saudi Arabia between emissaries of the belligerents had however resulted in a commitment in principle to “protect civilians” and allow “to collect, register and bury the dead in coordination with the competent authorities”.

But the army withdrew from these negotiations on Wednesday and the next day the United States and Saudi Arabia said they were officially suspending them.

At the same time, the African Union and Igad, the East African regional bloc to which the country belongs, have expressed their readiness to implement a roadmap in Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world.

On Saturday, an emissary from General Daglo met Kenyan President William Ruto in Nairobi, the latter said on Twitter.

Despite the announcement of American sanctions against the army and the paramilitaries, the fighting with heavy weapons continues every day to claim victims, the looting continues and the number of displaced people continues to increase.

“Security forces must protect and not endanger their fellow citizens,” the US Embassy in Khartoum said in a statement, referring to the two rival camps.

In the Sudanese capital, civilians are without running water and face cash shortages and power cuts.

Bus drivers liaising between Khartoum and its provinces told AFP on Saturday “to be blocked by the authorities at the gates of the capital” of more than five million inhabitants.

On Wednesday at least 18 civilians were killed by army artillery fire and aerial bombardment at a market in Khartoum. Experts say they fear a massive army offensive after the announcement of the redeployment of its troops in the capital.

Opposite, the FSR continue to take up residence in hospitals or civilian homes.

The situation is even more serious in Darfur, bordering Chad, and risks worsening with the approach of the rainy season, synonymous in Sudan with an upsurge in malaria, food insecurity and child malnutrition.

Displaced people who arrived on the spot told Médecins sans frontières (MSF) that they had seen “armed men shooting at people trying to flee on foot, villages looted and the wounded dying”.

Witnesses told AFP on Saturday of fighting around the town of Kutum in North Darfur

With a third of Sudan’s 45 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, aid shipments arriving by air are blocked at customs and international staff are denied visas to relieve local workers who are exhausted or holed up at home .

Eighteen aid workers have been killed since the start of the conflict.

The UN Security Council on Friday extended for only six months the United Nations political mission in Sudan, whose leader Volker Perthes is no longer welcome in the country in the midst of deadly conflict.

General Burhane called last week for the dismissal of the head of the mission, making him bear the responsibility for the war. But UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his “absolute confidence” in Mr Perthes.