Civilian deaths top 400 in Sudan; US evacuates citizens

Associated Press

CAIRO — Gunfire and heavy artillery fire persisted Saturday in parts of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, residents said, despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country’s two top generals, whose battle for power has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives.

With ordinary Sudanese caught in the crossfire, the civilian death toll jumped Saturday to 411 people, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which monitors casualties. In some areas in and around the capital, residents reported that shops were reopening and normalcy gradually returning as the scale of fighting dwindled after the shaky truce.

In other areas, terrified residents reported explosions thundering around them and fighters ransacking houses.

Now in its third week, the fighting wounded 2,023 civilians, the syndicate added, although the true toll is expected to be much higher. The Sudanese Health Ministry put the overall death toll, including fighters, at 528, with 4,500 wounded. In the city of Genena, the provincial capital of war-ravaged West Darfur, intensified violence has killed 89 people, the Doctors’ Syndicate said.

Hundreds of Americans fleeing the fighting in Sudan reached the country’s port Saturday in the first U.S.-run evacuation, completing a dangerous land journey under escort of armed drones.

American unmanned aircraft, which have been keeping an eye on overland evacuation routes for days, provided armed overwatch for a bus convoy carrying 200 to 300 Americans over 500 miles to Port Sudan, a place of relative safety, U.S. officials said.

The U.S., which had no officials on the ground for the evacuation, was criticized by families of Americans trapped in Sudan for initially ruling out any U.S.-run evacuation for those among the estimated 16,000 U.S. citizens who wish to leave the east African nation.

U.S. special operations troops flew to Khartoum on April 22 to airlift staffers at the U.S. Embassy and other American government personnel. More than a dozen other nations carried out evacuations for their citizens, using a mix of military planes, navy vessels and on-the-ground personnel.

<p>Smoke rises in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 29, 2023, as gunfire and heavy artillery fire continued despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country's two top generals. The battle for power between the country's army and its rival paramilitary has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)</p>

Marwan Ali

Smoke rises in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 29, 2023, as gunfire and heavy artillery fire continued despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country's two top generals. The battle for power between the country's army and its rival paramilitary has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Khartoum, a city of some 5 million people, has been transformed into a front line in the grinding conflict between Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the commander of Sudan’s military, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces. The outbreak of violence dashed once-euphoric hopes for a democratic transition in Sudan after a popular uprising helped oust former dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Other countries continued to evacuate their citizens while hundreds of thousands of Sudanese fled across borders. Britain was ending its evacuation flights Saturday, after demand for spots on the planes declined. The United Arab Emirates announced Saturday it started evacuating its own citizens along with nationals of 16 other countries.

Over 50,000 Sudanese refugees — mostly women and children — crossed over to Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, the United Nations said, raising fears of regional instability. Ethnic fighting and turmoil scarred South Sudan and the Central African Republic for years while a 2021 coup derailed Chad’s own democratic transition.

Those who escape the fighting in Khartoum face more dangers on their way to safety. The route to Port Sudan, where ships evacuate people via the Red Sea, has proven long, exhausting and risky. Hatim el-Madani, a former journalist, said paramilitary fighters were stopping refugees at roadblocks, demanding they hand over their phones and valuables.

“There’s an outlaw, bandit-like nature to the RSF,” he said, referring to Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces. “They don’t have a supply line in place. That could get worse in the coming days.”

Airlifts from the country amid the chaotic fighting also posed challenges, with a Turkish evacuation plane even hit by gunfire outside Khartoum on Friday.

<p>People line up at a gasoline station in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 29, 2023, as gunfire and heavy artillery fire continued despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country's two top generals. The battle for power between the country's army and its rival paramilitary has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)</p>

Marwan Ali

People line up at a gasoline station in Khartoum, Sudan, Saturday, April 29, 2023, as gunfire and heavy artillery fire continued despite the extension of a cease-fire between the country's two top generals. The battle for power between the country's army and its rival paramilitary has killed hundreds and sent thousands fleeing for their lives. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

On Saturday — despite a cease-fire extended under heavy international pressure early Friday — clashes continued around the presidential palace, headquarters of the state broadcaster and a military base in Khartoum, residents said. The battles sent thick columns of black smoke billowing over the city skyline.

In other areas, residents reported signs that the cease-fire had taken hold.

“We are not hearing the bombs as we did before, so we’re hoping that this means they will go back to a political process,” said Osman Mirgany, a columnist and editor of the daily al-Tayar, who assessed it was safe enough Friday to return home to Khartoum after seeking refuge in a far-flung village.

Khartoum residents are forced to live side by side with armed fighters. Many RSF militants moved into civilian homes and took over stores and hospitals in the capital. The paramilitary group transformed Mirgany’s newsroom into a makeshift base, he said. Residents also must cope without sufficient electricity and running water, among other basic supplies.

“For the past 14 days we’ve suffered from a lack of everything,” Mirgany said.

Residents in the city of Omdurman, west of Khartoum, have been waiting at least three days to get fuel — complicating their escape plans.

The U.N. relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said that U.N. offices in Khartoum, as well as the cities of Genena and Nyala in Darfur had been attacked and looted. Genena’s main hospital was leveled in the fighting, Sudan’s health ministry said.

“This is unacceptable — and prohibited under international law,” Griffiths said.

Categories: World News