Sudan news round-up by Guardian Mon 24 Apr 2023

UN staff are evacuated from Port Sudan. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

From The Guardian, UK

A roundup of today’s news from The Guardian LIVE reporting

By Harry Taylor Monday 24 April 2023 18:54 BST UK

Summary

The time is approaching 8pm in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, which has been the site of fierce fighting which has led to a mass exodus and evacuation effort from the north-eastern African country.

Gun fire has been heard in Khartoum as fighting continues between the Rapid Support Force, a paramilitary group who follows the former warlord Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, and the Sudanese army forces loyal to Abdulfatah al-Burhan, the current de facto leader of Sudan.

Here is a roundup of today’s news.

A British RAF plane has landed at port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK is evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air. 

A C17 Globemaster is on the ground at Port Sudan with some troops who may form part of a second rescue organised by the UK following Sunday’s controversial evacuation of British diplomats from the capital, Khartoum, but not other UK nationals. 

The head of the UN António Guterres has warned that the situation could engulf the whole region and that Sudan stands on the “abyss”. He said: “Let me be clear: the United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people, in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time. We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.” 

The French embassy in Khartoum will be closed until further notice. France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the ministry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. It has also sent a warship as part of the rescue effort. 

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has raised concerns about the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner group, operating in Sudan. Wagner, who were founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been heavily engaged in the conflict in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. There is now a suggestion the group is active in Sudan. He told a press conference: “We do have deep concern about the engagement of the Prigozhin group – the Wagner group – in Sudan.” 

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the country has been able to fly more than 300 people out of Sudan. 

The US is pushing for a ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan to be broadened to help bring the conflict to an end. Secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference that was talking “directly” with military leaders. Israel has offered to host ceasefire talks. 

The British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday when fighting broke out in the country’s capital Khartoum, according to a report in the Times of London.

That’s all from me today. I will be handing over to my colleague Gloria Oladipo.

This photograph from the Etat Major des Armees (French defence staff) shows French military personnel at French military airbase in Djibouti before they fly for Khartoum during the "Sagittaire" evacuation of about 100 people from Sudan on the first French flight out of the war-hit country after a "complicated" rescue operation.  Photo: Adj Laure-Anne Maucorps Ep Derri/Etat Major des Armées/AFP/Getty Images

Evacuees from Sudan arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

View the Guardian's Live Reporting here or here.

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New fighting and looting in North Darfur: 11 killed, 1 police; 57 injured. SAF demotes RSF to a rebel group.

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: In the past few days Sudan's Army chief Gen. Burhan demoted Hemeti's RSF to a rebel group. Some males in the RSF are very young. They can become lost, neglected, drugged and frightened. 

Many rebels have to steal food, water, meds, drugs, cash, phones, clothes, petrol, vehicles and attack aid convoys for supplies. Being a rebel is a way to become gainfully employed, part of a gang with camaraderie and a purpose.

Most of them become street wise, creative and resourceful, clever and able to think fast on their feet. I am not up to date with the law on recruitment of child soldiers but I hope it is now unlawful and classed as human trafficking. 

Report from Radio Dabanga in Netherlands - www.dabangasudan.org

By Radio Dabanga

Published Friday 21 April 2023

New reports about fighting and looting in Darfur

PHOTO: RSF soldiers deployed in a neighbourhood of Khartoum (Photo supplied)

EL FASHER / NYALA / ED DAEIN – Eleven people were killed in battles between Sudanese army soldiers and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, on Wednesday [19 Apr].

Among the 11 people killed was one policeman, the North Darfur Radio Dabanga correspondent reported from El Fasher. 57 others were injured.

“The Southern Hospital is overcrowded,” she said. “Luckily, youth initiatives have led to the opening of five health centres that provide free diagnosis and treatment.”

Yesterday morning, the North Darfur capital witnessed relative calm with sporadic clashes, he said. “But the plundering continues.”

The Specialised Children’s Hospital was looted, and two ambulances were stolen on Wednesday, she said. Many houses have been plundered as well.

Youngsters are barricading the streets in the neighbourhoods to prevent more plundering.

“At the markets She further noted a significant decrease in the prices of clothes, shoes and other commodities, as thieves offered stolen goods for sale as well.”

‘Cautious calm’

Nyala, capital of South Darfur, witnessed a cautious calm on Thursday after clashes earlier this week that left at least 31 people dead. People left their homes to buy food and other needs from the shops. Many markets are still closed.

“However, intermittent exchanges of fire with heavy weapons continued in the northern part of the city on Thursday,” a correspondent in Nyala said.

He also reported widespread plundering. “People in various neighbourhoods resorted to barricading the streets to prevent looting.”

A listener told Radio Dabanga from Nyala that the plundering is done by armed men riding on motorcycles and in rickshaws. “Youths have formed groups that are patrolling the neighbourhoods.”

He said that the army forces are stationed at the base of the 16th Infantry Division, not far from the airport. The RSF soldiers are deployed in the El Matar, El Riyadh and El Malja neighbourhoods close to the army command.

Ed Daein, capital of East Darfur, has hardly been affected by the ongoing battles, residents told Radio Dabanga.

Activist Emameldin Maw said that the situation is calm except for two incidents on Sunday, the second day of the war, which led to the death of four army soldiers. He attributed the calm to the ability of native administration leaders to control the forces “by virtue of the social composition of the two parties”.

Continue Reading

Fighting continues in Sudan capital, UN warns for collapse of health system

Sudan: RSF attack police stations in El Obeid, 20 policemen killed

View original: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/new-reports-about-fighting-and-looting-in-darfur

[Ends]

Sudan food markets burned in North & South Darfur

NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Lately, I find myself double checking dates on news reports because the content is so similar to the start of Darfur war. 

At least this time the world can see verifiable and timely satellite imagery and detect truthful news from Darfur. 20 yrs ago it was like from another planet. No maps of Darfur were on the internet. Now we can see evildoings.

Starve Darfuris of food was a tactic used in Darfur war. Force them to flee from fire so they're traumatised and controlled by chaos, fear and anxiety. 

Report from dnyuz.com

By New York Times

Friday 21 April 2023

Large Food Market Burned in Darfur Camp, Satellite Images Show

A large market for food and other supplies serving a camp for displaced people was partly damaged during a fire on Wednesday, reflecting the dangerous toll recent fighting has taken on Sudan’s most vulnerable citizens. The extent of the destruction was evident in satellite imagery and social media videos analyzed by The New York Times, which found that the blaze destroyed or damaged approximately 18 acres of the market.

Over the past week, Sudan has been engulfed in violence as the Army and a paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F.), vie for control of the country. Already, the Abu Shouk camp, located in El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur, was experiencing supply shortages.

According to Thomas Okedi, the area manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, the camp hadn’t received any aid in the week before the fire started. He blamed the current fighting and turmoil for the blaze, saying it started because of a stray bullet or looters igniting one of the shops, and then spread quickly through some of the makeshift structures.

A satellite image from Wednesday afternoon shows the fires still burning, with small shops on the eastern side of the market reduced to ash, and flames consuming other structures.

A video shared on social media shows the blaze, with a man taking the video saying: “May God help us. This market is completely destroyed.” Another video, taken a few hours later, shows the charred, smoking remains of shops and equipment.

“As of right now, Abu Shouk market is operating at very limited capacity,” Mr. Okedi said. “With the reduction of food supplies and the stopping of humanitarian aid, the situation is getting more dire.”

Many humanitarian groups have halted their operations because of the fighting, and there are growing concerns about how people will get access to food and water.

Fighting has been reported in El Fasher by Doctors Without Borders, which said that it had treated almost 300 wounded civilians, 44 of whom died from their injuries, in the city this week.

Nearly 900,000 internally displaced people lived in North Darfur before the current escalation of violence. The Abu Shouk camp alone is home to more than 100,000 people, according to Mr. Okedi. Some of them were displaced by a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s waged by the Sudanese Army and so-called Janjaweed militias. The R.S.F. grew out of the Janjaweed, and is now fighting its former ally, the Army.

Another food market, 100 miles south of El Fasher in the capital of South Darfur, Nyala, went up in flames on Sunday. Satellite imagery from April 20 shows the aftermath.

A few homes less than a mile from the market also burned down. Additionally, the satellite imagery shows signs of looting at various places in the city, and unidentified security forces, including tanks, positioned in a residential area.

At least 413 people have been killed and 3,551 others around the country have been wounded in the violence, the World Health Organization reported on Friday.

The post Large Food Market Burned in Darfur Camp, Satellite Images Show appeared first on New York Times.

View original: https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/21/large-food-market-burned-in-darfur-camp-satellite-images-show/