NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: As reported by the BBC, it is difficult to get a true picture of situation on ground. The Sudanese army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) observed a temporary ceasefire after two days of fighting. African Union chief is heading to Sudan. Many countries are keeping a close eye on Sudan. Sudan's road ahead to civilian rule is painfully long. The UN chief demands justice for staff deaths. Let us pray that the International Criminal Court is keeping its Darfur Sudan files open.
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From: BBC News LIVE reporting
Sunday 16 April 2023 at 15:26; 15:40; 17:17; 17:23; 18:12; 18:37 GMT UK
Edited by Rob Corp, Tom Spender, Robert Greenall
Summary
The leaders of Sudan's army and paramilitary group the Rapid Support forces observed a temporary ceasefire after two days of fighting
The four-hour "humanitarian" window on Sunday was for the wounded to be evacuated after clashes were reported across the vast African country
The World Food Programme temporarily halts humanitarian work in Sudan after three staff were killed
The deaths happened during violence in Kabkabiya in North Darfur and two other workers were injured
The UN food agency also says one of its planes was damaged at Khartoum airport
Fighting has entered a second day as a power struggle between Sudan's army and paramilitaries rages in Khartoum and elsewhere
Sudan's doctors' union said at least 57 people have been killed as result of the fighting which broke out on Saturday
The RSF says it controls key sites in the capital but Sudan's leader - and head of the military - has rejected its claim
The African Union, leading Arab states and the US have called for an end to the fighting and a resumption of talks aimed at restoring a civilian government
Sudanese groups and the ruling military junta failed to reach an agreement last week on a handover of power
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Posted at 15:26
15:40
Sudanese army and RSF back 'urgent humanitarian ceasefire'
The two sides in the conflict in Sudan have agreed to a temporary ceasefire so that "urgent humanitarian cases" can be brought to safety.
Representatives from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have agreed to the proposal by the United Nations to pause fighting between 16:00 and 19:00 local time (14:00 and 17:00 GMT) on Sunday.
General Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo of the Rapid Support Forces supported the proposal.
While welcoming the agreement, UN representative in Sudan Volker Perthes said they will be held accountable to honour it.
DIFFICULT TO GET A TRUE PICTURE OF THE SITUATION ON THE GROUND
BBC Monitoring's Beverly Ochieng in Nairobi says both sides are making competing claims about areas that they have seized and it has been frustrating getting a true picture of what is happening on the ground.
State TV has just been playing music, peace music, unity music and messages, she says.
Most of the Sudanese media is only posting material on social media, and that's been the biggest source of news coming out of Sudan, she adds.
The head of the pan-continental African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, is planning to "immediately" go on a ceasefire mission to Sudan, the body said in a statement on Sunday.
The organisation has been meeting to discuss the situation in Sudan.
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Posted at 17:2317:23
WHY SO MANY COUNTRIES ARE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON SUDAN
Analysis by Frank Gardner, BBC News, Security Correspondent
Sudan is one of the poorest countries, per capita, in the Arab world. But its natural resources and its strategic location on the Red Sea have attracted the attention of its Arab neighbours as well as global powers like the US.
Russia is keen to establish a naval base on the coast and has been in talks about this with Sudan’s military leaders.
Washington wants to prevent this and also has no wish to see Sudan return to the days when it hosted terrorist groups like Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaida. Under US pressure, Sudan recently established diplomatic relations with Israel.
Nearer at hand, Egypt is in a close alliance with Khartoum, with both countries viewing Ethiopia with suspicion bordering on hostility.
Since the ousting of Sudan’s military ruler General Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have built up ties with Khartoum. The Saudis persuaded Sudan to send forces to join its side in Yemen’s disastrous civil war.
The UAE sees Sudan as part of a regional network against political Islam which it views as a threat to its own way of government.
None of this suggests much hope of an early end to Sudan’s own internal struggles.
The latest deadly violence is rooted in a power struggle between two military men: one, Sudan's leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan; the other, his deputy, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
He first came to prominence when he led militias on horseback during the war in Darfur, which some described as a genocide.
Five years ago, there was huge optimism in Sudan following a revolution that led to the ousting of the dictatorial leader Omar al-Bashir who held power for 30 years.
Now, the country is going backwards.
The path to civilian rule was always going to be difficult as Sudan has been ruled with an iron fist for so long.
The army seemed unable to give way, staging a coup in 2021 which derailed the transition and led to months of opposition protests in which dozens were killed.
And now the military are fighting amongst themselves, with civilians caught in the middle, their dreams of a new Sudan shattered.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for "justice without delay" for the deaths of three staff during violence in Kabkabiya, in north Darfur region, his spokesman says.
NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: Many years before Sudan's president Bashir was jailed he fondly nicknamed Dagalo "Hemeti". He saw him as his replacement and the son he never had. He dislikes being called Hemeti.
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From: BBC News LIVE - full copy
Saturday 15 April 2023 at 16:37 GMT UK
Edited by Rob Corp
Fighting must stop immediately - former Sudanese prime minister
Copyright: Getty Images
Abdallah Hamdok in 2021
Image caption: Abdallah Hamdok in 2021
Former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok has made a statement in a video posted on his Facebook account.
He says the "exchange of fire must stop immediately" and calls on the Sudanese people to "stay strong".
Quote Message: My first message is to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the leaders of the Sudanese military, and to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The exchange of fire must stop immeditately, and the voice of reason must rule, everyone will lose, and there is no victory when it is atop the bodies of our people." from Abdallah Hamdok Former Prime Minister of Sudan
My first message is to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the leaders of the Sudanese military, and to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The exchange of fire must stop immeditately, and the voice of reason must rule, everyone will lose, and there is no victory when it is atop the bodies of our people."
Abdallah Hamdok
Former Prime Minister of Sudan
He asks the Sudanese people not to allow "the drums of war to take over", before issuing a plea to the international community to "do their duty in finding a solution".
Hamdok served from 2019 until he was ousted in the October 2021 coup, before being reinstated again a month later.
He resigned last year after long-running disagreements with the army.
NOTE from Sudan Watch Editor: The international community has condemned the escalation of violence in Sudan's capital Khartoum.
The UN has voiced concern over a possible escalation of tensions in Sudan.
The head of the United Nations mission in Sudan called Saturday for an "immediate" end to fighting between the regular army and paramilitaries.
India and United Kingdom on Saturday advised its citizens in Sudan to stay indoors amid heavy firing in Sudan.
Egypt also urged all Sudanese parties to protect the lives of the citizens and prioritise the higher interests of their nation.
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said it is checking up on Jordanians residing in Sudan following the ongoing security developments.
United Arab Emirates has called for restraint.
Saudi Arabia’s airline Saudia has announced suspending all flights to and from Sudan until further notice.
Flydubai has cancelled flights to Sudan due to the current situation in the country.
Sudan situation is ‘fragile’ says the US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
Here is a snapshot of some fast-moving news published online today.
Sudan mounts air strikes as Khartoum clashes escalate
Summary
Gunfire and explosions are heard in the Sudanese capital Khartoum as a power struggle between the country's army and paramilitaries escalates
Tensions have increased between the government and the powerful Rapid Support Forces in recent days
Reports suggest Khartoum's airport is under the control of the RSF and gunfire has been heard in the northern city of Merowe, Reuters reported
Sudanese groups and the ruling military junta failed to reach an agreement last week over transitioning to a civilian-led government
One of the issues holding up a deal is integrating the Rapid Support Forces with the army
A power struggle between Sudan's army and paramilitaries has seen fighting erupt between armed factions in the capital Khartoum and other cities
The RSF claims to be in control of key sites in the capital but the army insists it remains in control
The African Union, leading Arab states and the US have called for an end to the fighting and a resumption of talks aimed at restoring a civilian government
Sudanese groups and the ruling military junta failed to reach an agreement last week on a handover of power
Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Sudan’s army and rival force clash, wider conflict feared
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force erupted Saturday in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken country.
In Khartoum, the sound of heavy firing could be heard in a number of areas, including the city center and the neighborhood of Bahri.
In a series of statements, the Rapid Support Forces militia accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases in south Khartoum.
They claimed they seized the city’s airport and “completely controlled” Khartoum’s Republican Palace, the seat of the country’s presidency.
The group also said it seized an airport and air base in the northern city of Merowe some 350 kilometers (215 miles) northwest of Khartoum. The Associated Press was unable to verify those claims.
The Sudanese army said fighting broke out after RSF troops tried to attack its forces in the southern part of the capital, accusing the group of trying to take control of strategic locations in Khartoum, including the palace.
The military also declared the RSF a rebel force and described the paramilitary’s statements as “lies.”
A military official told the AP that fighter jets took off from a military base north of Omdurman and attacked the RSF’s positions in and around Khartoum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
The clashes came as tensions between the military and the RSF have escalated in recent months, forcing a delay in the signing of an internationally backed deal with political parties to revive the country’s democratic transition.
Saudi Arabia’s national airline said one of its Airbus A330s was involved in “an accident” after video showed it on fire on the tarmac at Khartoum International Airport amid the fighting.
Saudia said in a statement Saturday that all its flights were suspended after the incident. It did not elaborate on the cause of the “accident” though it appeared the aircraft got caught in the crossfire of the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese soldiers fighting around the airfield.
Another plane also appeared to have caught fire in the attack. Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 identified it as a SkyUp Airlines 737. SkyUp is a Kyiv, Ukraine-based airline. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other commercial aircraft trying to land at the airport began turning around to head back to their originating airport.
Tensions between the army and the paramilitary stem from a disagreement over how the RSF, headed by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, should be integrated into the military and what authority should oversee the process.
The merger is a key condition of Sudan’s unsigned transition agreement.
However, the army-RSF rivalry dates back to the rule of autocratic former president Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.
Under al-Bashir, the paramilitary force grew out of former militias known as janjaweed that carried out a brutal crackdown in Sudan’s Darfur region during the decades of conflict there.
In a rare televised speech Thursday, a top army general warned of potential clashes with paramilitary forces, accusing it of deploying forces in Khartoum and other areas of Sudan without the army’s consent.
The RSF defended the presence of its forces in an earlier statement.
The RSF recently deployed troops near Merowe. Also, videos that circulated on social media Thursday showed what appeared to be RSF-armed vehicles being transported into Khartoum, farther to the south.
According to a statement issued by the Sudan Doctors Committee — a part of the country’s pro-democracy movement — clashes have led to ”varying injuries.”
The military also said the fighting resulted in a number of casualties but provided no further details.
The U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, John Godfrey, wrote online that he was “currently sheltering in place with the Embassy team, as Sudanese throughout Khartoum and elsewhere are doing.”
“Escalation of tensions within the military component to direct fighting is extremely dangerous,” Godfrey wrote. “I urgently call on senior military leaders to stop the fighting.”
In Saturday’s statement, the RSF said it was contacted by three former rebel leaders who hold government positions in an apparent bid to de-escalate the conflict.
In a joint statement, civilian signatories to December’s framework agreement also called for an immediate de-escalation. “We call on the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to stop hostilities immediately,” it said.
Sudan has been marred in turmoil since October 2021, when a coup overthrew a Western-back government, dashing Sudanese aspirations for democratic rule after three decades of autocracy and repression under Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir.
Smoke is seen rising from a neighborhood in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 15, 2023. Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary erupted in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation after weeks of escalating tensions between the two forces. The fighting raised fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken nation. (AP Photos/Marwan Ali)
Khartoum (AFP) – Air strikes and artillery exchanges rocked the Sudanese capital Saturday as paramilitaries and the regular army traded attacks on each other's bases, days after the army warned the country was at a "dangerous" turning point.
The paramilitaries said they were in control of the presidential place as well as Khartoum airport, claims denied by the army, as civilian leaders called for an immediate ceasefire to prevent the country's "total collapse".
The doctors' union said three civilians had been killed, including at Khartoum airport and in North Kordofan state, and at least nine others wounded.
The eruption of violence came after weeks of deepening tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his number two, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) into the regular army.
The army said it had carried out air strikes against RSF bases in Khartoum. "The Sudanese air force destroyed Tiba and Soba camps," it said in a statement.
Military leader Burhan has been at loggerheads with his number two, the RSF commander, over talks to finalise a deal to return the country to civilian rule and end the crisis sparked by their 2021 coup.
The RSF said its forces had taken control of Khartoum airport, after witnesses reported seeing truckloads of fighters entering the airport compound, as well as the presidential palace and other key sites.
Its claims were quickly denied by the army, who said the airport and other bases remain under their "full control", publishing a photograph of black smoke billowing from what it said was the RSF headquarters.
The army also accused the paramilitaries of burning civilian airliners at the airport, and Saudi flag carrier Saudia said it had suspended all flights to and from Sudan until further notice after one of its Airbus A330 planes "was involved in an accident".
RSF chief Daglo vowed no let-up. "We will not stop fighting until we capture all the army bases and the honourable members of the armed forces join us," he told Al Jazeera.
'Sweeping attack'
Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then president Omar al-Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the western Darfur region a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
A plan to integrate the RSF into the regular army is one of the key points of contention, analysts have said.
Eleventh-hour haggling between the two men has twice forced postponement of the signing of an agreement with civilian factions setting out a roadmap for the transition.
Witnesses also reported clashes around the state media building in Khartoum's sister city Omdurman, as well near Burhan's residence and in Khartoum North.
Outside the capital, witness Eissa Adam said explosions and gunfire had been heard across the North Darfur state capital of El Fasher, where civilians were hunkered down inside their homes.
The two sides traded blame for starting the fighting.
The RSF said they were "surprised Saturday with a large force from the army entering camps", reporting a "sweeping attack with all kinds of heavy and light weapons".
Army spokesman Brigadier General Nabil Abdallah said the paramilitaries launched the fighting, attacking "several army camps in Khartoum and elsewhere around Sudan".
"Clashes are ongoing and the army is carrying out its duty to safeguard the country", he added.
'Slipping into abyss'
The military's civilian interlocutors called on both sides "to immediately cease hostilities and spare the country slipping into the abyss of total collapse."
Their plea was echoed by US ambassador John Godfrey, who tweeted that he "woke up to the deeply disturbing sounds of gunfire and fighting" and was "currently sheltering in place with the embassy team, as Sudanese throughout Khartoum and elsewhere are doing".
"Escalation of tensions within the military component to direct fighting is extremely dangerous. I urgently call on senior military leaders to stop the fighting," he said.
The head of the United Nations mission in Sudan Volker Perthes called for an "immediate" ceasefire.
"Perthes has reached out to both parties asking them for an immediate cessation of fighting to ensure the safety of the Sudanese people and to spare the country from further violence," the UN mission said.
Western governments had been warning of the dangers of all-out fighting between the rival security forces since the army issued its warning to the paramilitaries on Thursday.
In recent months, Daglo has said the 2021 coup was a "mistake" that failed to bring about change in Sudan and reinvigorated remnants of Bashir's regime, which was ousted by the army in 2019 following month of mass protests.
Burhan, a career soldier from northern Sudan who rose the ranks under Bashir's three-decade rule, maintained that the coup was "necessary" to bring more groups into the political process.
The central African country of Chad has closed its 872-mile (1,403 km) eastern border with Sudan "until further notice", Reuters news agency reports.
"Chad appeals to the regional and international community as well as to all friendly countries to prioritise a return to peace," the government said in a statement.
Edited by Rob Corp, Tom Spender, Robert Greenall
Summary
The leaders of Sudan's army and paramilitary group the Rapid Support forces observed a temporary ceasefire after two days of fighting
The four-hour "humanitarian" window on Sunday was for the wounded to be evacuated after clashes were reported across the vast African country
The World Food Programme temporarily halts humanitarian work in Sudan after three staff were killed
The deaths happened during violence in Kabkabiya in North Darfur and two other workers were injured
The UN food agency also says one of its planes was damaged at Khartoum airport
Fighting has entered a second day as a power struggle between Sudan's army and paramilitaries rages in Khartoum and elsewhere
Sudan's doctors' union said at least 57 people have been killed as result of the fighting which broke out on Saturday
The RSF says it controls key sites in the capital but Sudan's leader - and head of the military - has rejected its claim
The African Union, leading Arab states and the US have called for an end to the fighting and a resumption of talks aimed at restoring a civilian government
Sudanese groups and the ruling military junta failed to reach an agreement last week on a handover of power
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Posted at 15:26
15:40