Continuing conflict in Sudan leaves 18 civilians dead

Smoke rises during fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum on May 29, 2023.

A panel of human rights lawyers said that in addition to the 18 people killed, 106 people were injured in heavy shelling and air strikes on May 31 that targeted a market in the south of the capital Khartoum.

The organization involved in aid activities in the area also confirmed the above information, saying the situation here is currently very "dire", and calling for doctors to support as well as calling for blood donations to save the injured.

For more than six weeks, the capital Khartoum and many other areas in Sudan have been engulfed in unrest due to bloody fighting. The conflict continued on June 1. Witnesses reported seeing heavy artillery in the north of Khartoum.

A day earlier, clashes broke out in the Al-Mohandiseen district of Omdurman, west of the capital Khartoum, despite the two sides agreeing on 29 May to extend the ceasefire until 4 June. The army closed the Al-Fatihab bridge linking Khartoum and Omdurman, while fighter jets flew over the area. The army delegation suspended its participation in ongoing talks with the RSF in the Saudi port city of Jeddah in protest at the RSF’s repeated violations of the short-term ceasefire. The delegation also said the RSF had failed to fulfill its commitments to withdraw from civilian areas, including hospitals and residential areas. Meanwhile, the RSF accused the Sudanese army of violating the ceasefire by shelling its positions in Khartoum.

Faced with the above situation, on June 1, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Washington may take action against hostile parties in Sudan after the ceasefire agreement brokered by the US collapsed.

Speaking to reporters, Secretary of State Blinken emphasized that the US is considering taking steps to clearly express its own views towards any leader "who is leading Sudan astray".

On the same day, the US Treasury Department announced that it had imposed sanctions on companies that Washington accused of "supporting" and profiting from the conflict in Sudan, including two companies supporting the Sudanese army and two companies supporting the RSF. The department stressed that through sanctions, the US is blocking financial flows to the parties fighting in Sudan. Washington also affirmed that it always stands with the Sudanese people and opposes any acts of violence against the people.

The conflict between the Sudanese army led by Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF paramilitary group led by former Deputy Commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo began on April 15. According to statistics, over 1,800 people have been killed in the past 6 weeks of fighting. The United Nations said nearly 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes elsewhere in the country and to neighboring countries, of which over 100,000 have fled to Chad. High CommissionerUnited NationsThe United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) predicts that about 200,000 more people will be forced to flee to this neighboring country in the next 3 months.

According to VNA