Three United Nations among around 60 killed in Sudan as crisis unfolds

16 April 2023 , 21:33

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People carrying their belongings walk along a street in Khartoum on April 16 (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Three United Nations workers are among 56 people who have died in Sudan as fighting intensified across the country following months of rising tension.

Violence broke out on Saturday in the capital Khartoum and has continued throughout today and across the country as armed forces and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) clashed.

The country has been struggling to try and form a democracy after the army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, the commander of the RSF seized power. Now those two men are fighting.

Pope Francis said he was following “with worry” the events unfolding in Sudan.

Sudan's Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (L) and Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commander, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (AFP via Getty Images)

“I am close to the Sudanese people ... and I invite prayers so that arms are laid down and dialogue prevails, to resume together the path of peace and harmony," the pontiff said in remarks Sunday to the public in St. Peter’s Square.

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The UN has condemned the killing of three World Food Programme employees who died while carrying out their life-saving duties.

Volker Perthes, the head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission (UNITAMS) said that the three WFP employees were killed in clashes in Kabkabiya in North Darfur a day earlier.

“I also am extremely appalled by reports of projectiles hitting UN and other humanitarian premises, as well as reports of looting of UN and other humanitarian premises in several locations in Darfur,” Perthes said.

Smoke rises in the background as a car drives along an almost deserted street in Khartoum (AFP via Getty Images)

The Sudanese Red Crescent says hospitals are overwhelmed by the growing number of casualties. Spokesperson Osama Othman Abubakr said: “We are seeking to evacuate wounded people to other facilities as hospitals in the hotspots of the fighting are getting overwhelmed."

Dagalo claims to have seized most of Khartoum’s official sites, saying to Sky News Arabia that the RSF now controls more than 90 percent of sites.

But al-Burhan said the military has maintained control over government sites.

People ride a bus along a deserted street (AFP via Getty Images)

“The battles have not stopped,” said prominent rights advocate Tahani Abass who lives near the military headquarters. “They are shooting against each other in the streets. It’s an all-out war in residential areas.”

Abass said her family spent the night huddling on the ground floor of their home. “No one was able to sleep and the kids were crying and screaming with every explosion,” she said. Sounds of gunfire were heard while she was speaking to The Associated Press.

Yousra Elbagir, Sky's Africa correspondent writes: "The capital is a key battleground in the fight for symbolic power and is shaken by the explosive confrontations. Here, the army is also notorious for human rights abuses and ruling the country by default."

Rachel Hagan