Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT
Kabul: For a third consecutive day, people in Sudan woke up to the ear-splitting sounds of heavy artillery and bombardment by warplanes on Monday as the death toll neared 100 following violent unrest.
According to reports, explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum Monday amid fierce fighting between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
“The death toll among civilians… has reached 97,” the doctors’ union said, adding later that “dozens” of fighters had been killed and injured.
According to media reports, the figure does not include all casualties as many could not reach hospitals due to difficulties in movement amid the fighting.
The intense conflict, which has seen air strikes, tanks on the streets, artillery fire and heavy gunfire in crowded neighborhoods both in Khartoum and other cities across Sudan, has triggered international demands for an immediate ceasefire.
Violence erupted in Sudan on Saturday between Sudanese armed forces loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, a paramilitary force led by Sudan’s deputy leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti.
Hemedti, belonging to a family of camel herders, head a widely feared Arab militia that crushed a revolt in Darfur, winning him influence and eventually a role as the country’s second most powerful man, and one of its richest.
According to Aljazeera he has little formal education, dropping out of school in the third grade and later becoming a camel trader.
Despite being a longtime al-Bashir ally and benefitting greatly under his rule, Dagalo took part in overthrowing the president when the 2019 uprising broke out and ended his nearly 30-year rule.
As deputy head of state, Hemedti, with little formal education, has taken on some of Sudan’s most important portfolios in the post-Bashir era, including the crumbling economy and peace negotiations with rebel groups.
