Sudan Unrest: Envoy Calls For Calm

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), Mr Volker Perthes, has condemned the eruption of fighting in Sudan.

Clashes erupted on Saturday morning between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in many parts of the capital Khartoum and other areas outside the capital.

The SRSG 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.

According to CNN, fighting intensified after Sunday morning prayers, with loud noises and explosions heard throughout the night.

There have also been reports of battles hundreds of miles away in the eastern city of Port Sudan.

At least 56 people have been killed and nearly 600 injured in the clashes, according to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors.

Sudan’s paramilitary chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo claims to have seized most of Khartoum’s official sites after clashes erupted between his armed group and the country’s military on Saturday.

“The Rapid Support Forces control more than 90 per cent of strategic sites in Khartoum,” Dagalo said in an interview with Sky News Arabia, referring to his group.

The country’s military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, disputed Dagalo’s claims and said the military has maintained control over government sites.

Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, described Burhan as a “criminal,” accusing him of instigating fighting on Saturday.

Dagalo’s rise to power began when he was a leader of Sudan’s notorious Janjaweed forces, implicated in human rights violations in the Darfur conflict of the early 2000s.

His group also killed at least 118 people in pro-democracy protests in June 2019 after troops opened fire at a peaceful sit-in.

He and Burhan were pivotal in the 2019 overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir but have since become locked in a power struggle, with tensions over the RSF’s integration into the army.