Washington’s top diplomat yesterday said that a US embassy convoy came under fire in Sudan and denounced “indiscriminate military operations” as the country’s armed forces and a powerful rival unleashed heavy weapons in urban areas for a fourth day.
The convoy of clearly marked embassy vehicles was attacked on Monday, and preliminary reports link the assailants to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group battling Sudan’s military, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters.
Everyone in the convoy was safe, Blinken said.
Photo: AFP
The convoy attack in Khartoum, along with earlier assaults on aid workers and the EU envoy’s residence in the Sudanese capital, signaled further descent into chaos since the battle by two rival generals for control of Africa’s third-largest country erupted over the weekend.
More than 185 people have been killed and more than 1,800 wounded, according to UN figures, which did not include a breakdown of civilians and combatants.
The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate yesterday said that at least 144 civilians were killed and more than 1,400 wounded since Saturday.
The overall death toll could be much higher, because clashes in Khartoum have prevented the removal of bodies in some areas. The two sides have been using tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in densely populated areas.
Late on Monday, fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell. Fighting resumed early yesterday around each side’s main bases and at strategic government buildings — all of which are in residential areas.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies taken on Monday showed damage across Khartoum, including security service buildings. Tanks stood guard at a bridge over the White Nile River and other locations in the capital.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC, also taken on Monday, showed about 20 damaged aircraft at Khartoum International Airport, which also has a military side. Some had been completely destroyed, with one still belching smoke. At the El Obeid and Merowe air bases, north and south of Khartoum, several fighter jets were among the destroyed aircraft.
Top diplomats have urged the two rival generals — armed forces chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF leader Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — to halt fighting.
The US Department of State said late on Monday that Blinken spoke by phone separately with the two generals.
“I made very clear [in my calls] that any attacks or threats or dangers posed to our diplomats were totally unacceptable,” Blinken told reporters at the G7 meeting in Japan.
He appealed for an immediate 24-hour ceasefire, as a foundation for a longer truce and a return to negotiations. “Indiscriminate military operations have resulted in significant deaths and injuries, recklessly endangering civilians, diplomats, including US personnel, and humanitarian personnel,” he said.
Dagalo said in a series of tweets yesterday that he had approved a 24-hour humanitarian truce after speaking to Blinken, while the Sudanese military said more troops would join the battle and that it would “widen the scope of its operations” against the RSF.
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS