Airstrikes and explosions hammered Sudan’s capital yesterday after the failure of a US-brokered ceasefire between the army and paramilitary forces, forcing residents to stay hunkered down and prompting Japan to prepare to evacuate its citizens.
Continuous bombardments and loud blasts could be heard in central Khartoum in the area around the Sudanese Ministry of Defense compound and the airport, which has been fiercely contested and put out of action since fighting erupted at the weekend.
Thick smoke billowed into the sky.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Foreign powers, including the US, have been pushing for a ceasefire between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to allow residents trapped by the fighting to obtain desperately needed relief and supplies.
At least 270 people have been killed and 2,600 injured in the fighting, the WHO said, citing the Sudanese Ministry of Health.
Both sides agreed to the ceasefire from 6pm on Tuesday, but firing continued unabated and the army and the RSF issued statements accusing each other of failing to respect the truce.
The army’s high command said its operations were ongoing to secure the capital and other regions.
One resident in the eastern edges of Khartoum said heavy fighting resumed early yesterday after airstrikes and the pounding of artillery near her home on Tuesday.
“We couldn’t sleep, the only quiet was from 3 to 5am” she said.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said authorities were planning to use a plane from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to evacuate about 60 Japanese citizens in Sudan, in coordination with other major countries.
Since Saturday morning, and for the first time in decades, heavy fighting has raged across Sudan’s capital, a large metropolis of about 5.5 million people, with millions more living in sister cities Omdurman and Bahri that lie across the White and Blue niles.
The fighting has derailed the latest internationally backed plan for a transition to a civilian democracy, four years after the fall of former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and two years after a military coup.
The violence risks drawing in actors from Sudan’s neighborhood who have backed different factions, and could also play into competition between Russia and the US for regional influence.
Widespread disruption of power and water supplies caused by the fighting has left residents struggling in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast between dawn and dusk, and has put most hospitals out of service.
Khartoum residents were asked to limit their electricity usage, as the state’s distribution authority said the servers that manage online purchases of power were out of service.
Engineers cannot reach the area where the servers are located because it is too dangerous, it said in a statement.
Offices and schools have been shut in Khartoum since the fighting began, there have been widespread reports of looting and assault, and long lines have been forming at bakeries that are still functioning.
“Most goods aren’t available. People are looking for things, but they can’t find them,” said one resident in Bahri who gave only his first name, Mohamed.
UN agencies say many of their programs across the vast country, already in a precarious humanitarian situation, have been suspended.
Ahmed Omer, a communications coordinator at the Norwegian Refugee Council based in Al Qadarif in eastern Sudan, said the clashes had quashed his hopes of visiting his parents in Khartoum for the end of Ramadan.
“We were all hopeful that peace was upcoming and a government would be formed,” he said. “They dashed all the dreams of Sudanese youth and the Sudanese revolution.”
The fighting, which pits Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, followed rising tensions over a plan for the RSF’s integration into the regular military.
Burhan heads a ruling council installed after the 2021 military coup and the 2019 ouster of al-Bashir, while Dagalo — better known as Hemedti — was his deputy on the ruling council.
Discord over the timetable for that process delayed the signing of the framework deal to launch a civilian transition that was due to be signed earlier this month.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
RSS