Heavy fighting between Sudan’s warring factions broke out in portions of the city of Bahri on Friday, according to locals, a day after both sides praised a fresh attempt at mediating the three-month conflict.
Civilians have been evicted from the larger capital region, which includes the cities of Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman, as a result of the fighting that started on April 15. It has also led to attacks in the Darfur region that were motivated by ethnicity.
U.N. officials have warned that Sudan might descend into civil war if regional and international mediation efforts to stop the bloodshed are unsuccessful.
The most recent mediation effort began on Thursday in Egypt. The army, which maintains close connections with Egypt, and the RSF paramilitary group supported the initiative.
Four residents of northern Bahri told Reuters that violent early morning fighting between the two sides had woken them up. The fighting appeared to be concentrated around the Halfaya bridge.
The army has concentrated on air and artillery strikes that haven’t significantly altered the situation, while the RSF quickly spread out around the capital in the early stages of the conflict.
Recently, especially in Omdurman, the army has engaged in increased ground actions.
Residents in Bahri claimed to have heard airstrikes, artillery fire, and gunshots that persisted into the afternoon.
According to an army source, the army was able to drive the RSF out of neighbourhoods in the city’s far north in the morning, but the RSF claimed in a statement that they were able to beat the forces and claimed to have killed hundreds of people.
In a statement, the Sudanese army acknowledged some losses in Bahri but maintained the RSF figure was overstated and claimed that ground operations in all three of the capital’s cities had been successful.
Communications were down for several hours in the morning, according to residents of the larger capital region.
Conflicts were also reported by other witnesses near an army base in southern Khartoum.
Human rights groups in Sudan claimed on Friday that they had proof that the RSF had imprisoned more than 5,000 individuals in the nation’s capital and was treating them cruelly.
The RSF responded to inquiries for comment by claiming that the reports were false and that it exclusively held well-treated prisoners of war.
A spokeswoman for the force claimed that “these organisations are ignoring violations by the army against civilians, including air and artillery strikes, detentions, and arming of civilians.”
According to the organisations, who begged to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, 3,500 civilians, including weak women and foreign people, were imprisoned in various sites throughout Khartoum in addition to combatants.
They declared that they would present to the UN evidence of incidents of torture deaths as well as “degrading, inhumane conditions of detention devoid of human dignity and the most basic necessities of life.”
The RSF and affiliated militias were blamed for the deaths, which the paramilitary group disputed, according to a report released on Thursday by the U.N. human rights office. At least 87 individuals were allegedly buried in a mass grave in the Darfur city of El Geneina.
The International Criminal Court announced late on Thursday that it would look into murders that have occurred throughout the region. An inquiry for comments on the probe received no response from the RSF.
Reuters
