Air strikes rock Sudan; 100 killed in Darfur clashes

Gulf Today Report

Clashes that erupted last month between armed fighters in a city in Sudan’s restive Darfur region killed at least 100 people, according to Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate.

Hospitals were still out of service in the Darfur city of Genena and an accurate count of the wounded was still hard to make, the doctors’ union added in a statement posted on its official Facebook page late Sunday.

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Air strikes again shook Sudan's capital on Monday while the latest truce talks in Jeddah yielded no progress and a Saudi diplomat said both sides consider themselves "capable of winning the battle".

Sudan was thrown into deadly chaos when fighting broke out on April 15 between the forces of army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Abdel Fattah Al Burhan (left) and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. AFP

The fighting in Genena, which broke out a few days after Sudan’s two rival generals took up arms against each other in the capital of Khartoum, points to the possibility that the conflict could engulf other parts of the East African country.

The syndicate's death toll comes as talks continue between the warring parties in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. A statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry on Monday said the negotiations between delegations from the country's military, on one side, and on the other the powerful paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, are expected to go on for a few more days.

Battles have since killed hundreds, wounded thousands and uprooted hundreds of thousands, leading to fears of security fallout beyond Sudan's borders.

The warring generals have sent representatives to Saudi Arabia for talks on establishing a humanitarian truce in an effort also backed by the United States.

In Khartoum, a city of five million, terrified residents reported more combat, now in its fourth week.

Washington and Riyadh have labelled these "pre-negotiation talks".

By Monday, the discussions had yielded "no major progress", a Saudi diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"A permanent ceasefire isn't on the table... Every side believes it is capable of winning the battle," the diplomat added.

For Kholood Khair, founder of the Khartoum-based think tank Confluence Advisory, the delegations "are there mostly to curry favour with the Saudis and the Americans, rather than to credibly use this platform as a means to reach an agreement."

In Khartoum, a city of five million, terrified residents reported more combat, now in its fourth week, as they tried to cope with power outages and sweltering heat.

A southern Khartoum resident told AFP the family could hear "the sound of airstrikes which appeared to come from near a market in central Khartoum".