Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) - After days of ever-increasing tensions between the Sudanese army and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Intervention Forces (RSF), the capital of Sudan is under siege amid bombs. Fighting broke out on Saturday, April 15 and there seems to be no respite in the rest of the country as well.
Missionary sources reached by Fides confirm that the situation is dramatic and very delicate. The number of civilian deaths and injuries continues to rise, and hospitals in Khartoum have reached their maximum capacity. To date, one hundred deaths have been recorded and thousands injured. According to reports, the doctors' union issued an appeal to respect the neutrality of hospitals after the medical facility at the university, located in the southern part of the capital, was heavily hit. A female doctor who had intervened to provide aid at the airport was also killed. An emergency has been declared in all hospitals in the capital and an appeal has been made for doctors and health workers to reach their sites. In Khartoum in particular, fighting continues in the vicinity of the presidential palace and over control of bridges over the Nile, major arteries connecting different parts of the capital. Among the news reported and images that arrive, not all of them are always verifiable. State TV has stopped broadcasting; staff had been evacuated since the clashes began Saturday morning. There is a lack of electricity and drinking water, and people are trapped in their homes.
The two coup generals, Buhan and Hamidati, who had allied to block the handover of power to a civilian government, now wage war against each other by blocking the democratic process. There are many calls for a ceasefire, among them the political forces of the Coalition of Change urging a return to the negotiating table "because the war will have no winners but only losers." An African Union delegation is attempting to reach Khartoum for a direct meeting with the two generals. The heads of diplomacy from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have contacted the two generals by telephone. FAO announced the closure of all its humanitarian activities in Sudan following the killing of three officials of the international body.
The appeal that Pope Francis made after the recitation of the Regina Coeli on Sunday, April 16 was also heartfelt. "I am following with concern the events unfolding in Sudan. I am close to the Sudanese people, already so tried, and I invite you to pray so that they might lay down their arms, and pick up the path of peace and harmony".
Although the population had taken to the streets last April 11 to celebrate the fall of the dictatorship in 2019, the situation has degenerated in anticipation of the signing of an agreement between the ruling authorities, military, and civil society forces for a transitional government toward elections in 2024.
The situation has also precipitated in other major cities in the country, particularly in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which has been battered for months by militias known as "horse devils" already responsible for the genocide since 2003. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 17/4/2023)
