Alwaght- Ten days after eruption of the deadly clashes in Sudan, efforts are going on to stop this crisis to avoid a wide-ranging civil war. Meanwhile, despite the contemporary ceasefire due to Eid Al-Fitr, hostile stances by the two sides and failure of mediatory efforts are giving a dim outlook to the end of crisis.
According to the latest reports from the past few days of clashes, the ministry of health of Sudan said that 425 were killed and at least 3,730 have been injured.
Violation of the ceasefire and continuation of clashes
Though the army expressed its readiness to extend the ceasefire with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the latter claim that the army fighter jets and helicopters continue to strike the RSF in Kafouri in Khartoum North city. At the same time, Al-Jazeera reporter talked about rejuvenated clashes between the two sides in Omdurman in the capital Khartoum’s west.
In the first days of the conflict, the RSF tried to take control of Khartoum airport, the presidential palace and television headquarters, but the army forces announced that they had full control of these areas. After Abdul Fattah al-Burhan implied that Dagalo probably left Khatoum after the initial failure to seize strategic centers, a video released on social media on Sunday appeared to show the RSF commander for the first time since the clashes to be touring in a military vehicle in an area around the presidential palace. The date of the footage was unclear, however. He had earlier issued a statement saying that he and his forces were present in Khartoum.
Embassies evacuated in Sudan
With continuation of insecurity in the capital, most countries are evacuating their diplomats and citizens from Sudan, signaling their concern about escalation of conflicts in the coming days and weeks. After Egypt announced that an employee of the country’s embassy was injured, the US evacuated 70 employees of its embassy in Sudan using 6 military transport planes and attack helicopters. CBS News reported that this operation only included American embassy staff and did not cover ordinary citizens of this country in Sudan. Washington announced that an American citizen was killed in these clashes.
Turkish defense ministry stated that the country decided to evacuate its citizens and diplomats via a third country. The transfer will be from the ground, it said.
The Netherlands embassy also stated that process of evacuating the citizens and employees of their embassy to the safe zone had started.
Australian foreign ministry also announced that the security situation in Sudan was unstable and the conflict is intense and ongoing, and “we ask our nationals to stay in safe places.”
The French foreign ministry hoped that the process of evacuating our “nationals and diplomats will end as soon as possible, and today we will close our embassy in Khartoum.”
The Russian ambassador in Sudan said that currently it is not possible to fly out due to the ongoing conflict at Khartoum airport.
The office of Pakistan’s prime minister issued a statement, announcing that the PM Shahbaz Sharif was concerned about the safety of Pakistani nationals in Sudan and ordered to contact friendly countries, as well as the UN, to rescue the people caught in the fighting. There are about 1,500 Pakistani citizens in Sudan.
The Times newspaper held that the British accuse their government of not knowing about their fate.
Though the British government is seeking to establish a military airlift to evacuate dozens of its diplomats and their families from the embassy, it has not taken any action to evacuate hundreds of its nationals.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Iraq also announced their efforts to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.
Warnings about a humanitarian disaster
The intensification of clashes in Sudan worsened the lives of citizens who now have to stay at home. Human rights organizations warn about the situation of civilians. The International Red Cross has warned of running out of water and food supplies for civilians caught in their homes.
The Internet is down in a majority of the country’s regions. NetBlocks, a website monitoring global internet connection, reported that its data suggest the Internet is down in almost all of Sudan, and connection to the Internet has fallen to just 2 percent.
Also, according to Muntaser Mohammad Othman, the official spokesman of the ministry of health of Sudan, the power cut and lack of fuel hinders the provision of medical services to the injured.
The International Crisis Group has warned that millions of civilians are under siege and their basic food is rapidly running out. This organization warned about the possibility of this conflict turning into a real civil war throughout Sudan and spilling over to neighboring countries.
Sudan Red Crescent reported the attack of unknown armed men on the warehouses of this society and the theft of 8 cars and trucks.
The Reuters news agency quoted Pierre Honnorat, director of the World Food Program in Chad, as saying that the organization predicted that a new wave of Sudanese refugees is upcoming.
Honorrat stressed that the organization was ready to accept 1,000 new refugees. He also called for fresh water supplies to dry regions in which the displaced people will concentrate.
So far, 10,000 to 20,000 Sudanese have fled to Chad due to the civil war in this country. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, most of them are women and children from border villages.
Experts have predicted that with the announcement of the first phase of the ceasefire, millions of civilians will leave the war-torn country.
Ministry of health announced that some elements of the RSF attacked three hospitals in Khartoum and 30 hospitals were closed down due to the clashes.
The recent military and security developments have shattered the hopes to cut the inflation in the upcoming months. According to Aljazeera, the inflation rate in February hit 63.3 percent. This rate was 80 percent, as the ministry of finance had predicted.
Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries. Although the country is Africa’s third largest producer, 80 percent of the production is by the private sector that smuggles over 70 percent out of the country.
With the security, economic, military, and living conditions worsening, the International Crisis Group has warned that the current conditions can develop into a civil war, unless fierce fighting is halted, something making the Sudanese people the biggest loser of the recent clashes.
