Heavy fighting again rocked Sudan’s capital Sunday as tens of thousands have fled the bloody turmoil and a former prime minister warned of the “nightmare” risk of a descent into full-scale civil war. Army forces clashed with paramilitaries in downtown Khartoum as deadly hostilities have entered a third week despite the latest ceasefire, which was formally set to expire at the end of Sunday. “There has been very heavy fighting and loud gunfire every few minutes since the early morning on my street,” one southern Khartoum resident told AFP by phone.
Clashes were reported around the army headquarters in central Khartoum, and the army also carried out airstrikes in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman across the Nile River.
Foreign nations have scrambled to evacuate thousands of their citizens by air, road and sea since the fighting plunged the poverty-stricken country into deadly turmoil on April 15.
Millions of Sudanese have endured crippling shortages of water, food and other basic supplies, while tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring countries, with more on their way.
Satellite images showed long bus convoys at the Egyptian border, while the UN said tens of thousands had escaped to Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic.
The turmoil could deepen further in the power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Sudan’s former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok warned that the conflict could deteriorate into one of the world’s worst civil wars if not stopped early.
“God forbid if Sudan is to reach a point of civil war proper… Syria, Yemen, Libya will be a small play,” Hamdok told an event in Nairobi. “I think it would be a nightmare for the world.”
The violence has killed at least 528 people and wounded about 4,600, the health ministry said Saturday, but those figures are likely to be incomplete.
The fighting has affected 12 out of 18 states across Sudan, including the Darfur region, the ministry said.—AFP
