The White House announced Thursday that the United States will impose new economic sanctions and visa restrictions against “violent parties” in Sudan, after the army withdrew from recent negotiations with the Rapid Support Forces and accused it of bombing an old market area in the capital.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that the violence in this country constitutes a “tragedy that must stop,” without giving additional details about the sanctions.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters during NATO talks in Oslo that the United States is “considering steps we can take to clarify our views on any leaders who are leading Sudan in the wrong direction, including through continued violence and breach of ceasefire agreements.” to which they committed themselves.”
And the US State Department said in a statement that “once the (disputing) forces prove through their actions that they are serious about adhering to the cease-fire, the United States and Saudi Arabia will be ready to resume the pending talks to reach a solution to this conflict.”
“until victory”
On Wednesday, the Sudanese army suspended its participation in the ceasefire talks sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia, accusing the Rapid Support Forces of failing to fulfill its obligations.
A Sudanese government official, who requested anonymity, said that the army took the decision “because of the rebels’ non-implementation of the provision for their withdrawal from hospitals and citizens’ homes and their continued violation of the armistice.”
Despite pledges by both sides to abide by a number of truces that have been reached, fighting breaks out every time, especially in Khartoum and its suburbs and the troubled Darfur region in the west of the country.
Since the battles broke out between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on April 15, more than 1,800 people have been killed, according to the Armed Conflict Project website and event data.
The United Nations reports that more than 1.2 million people have been internally displaced. While more than half a million people have sought refuge abroad, including more than 100,000 refugees who fled to Chad and more than 170,000 to Egypt.
Emergency lawyers said in a statement on Wednesday that “the area south of Khartoum (the Mayo neighborhood and the Al-Azhari neighborhood) witnessed artillery and air strikes by the army, killing 18 civilians.” Mayo neighborhood includes the old market of Setta, which witnessed heavy shelling.
Residents of the capital told AFP on Wednesday that the army’s heavy artillery had bombed a large camp of the Rapid Support Forces in southern Khartoum.
These developments came two days after the mediators announced that the two parties to the conflict had agreed to extend the truce for five days “to give humanitarian representatives more time to carry out their vital work,” despite not being fully committed to it.
Al-Burhan announced during a visit to the forces in the capital on Tuesday that “the army is ready to fight until victory.” Dagalo, known as “Hemedti,” responded by saying that his forces “will exercise their right to defend themselves.”
Children in Sudan (Reuters)
For his part, African Union spokesman Mohamed El Hassan Labat told France Press on Wednesday that the army’s withdrawal “should not frustrate the United States and Saudi Arabia,” describing the army’s move as “a classic phenomenon in difficult negotiations.”
In New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed his support for his special envoy to Sudan, Volker Berthes.
Al-Burhan had accused Perthes of contributing to “biased” behavior and following a “misleading” method in the bloody conflict in his country, calling on the United Nations to replace him.
Guterres said it was up to “the Security Council to decide whether it supports the continuation of the (assistance) mission for another period, or whether the time has come to end it.”
“At any price”
Yaqut Abdel Rahim fled Khartoum to Port Sudan in the east of the country, where she stayed for 15 days in the hope of securing a rare seat on a flight.
“We want to leave at any cost (…) Our homes have been destroyed and we no longer have anything to raise our children,” Abdel Rahim, who lives in one of the camps prepared to receive displaced people from Khartoum, told AFP.
Unlike Abdel Rahim, many families continue to hide in their homes in Khartoum, rationing water and electricity while trying desperately to avoid stray bullets in the city of more than five million.
Looting and theft continue, especially of the headquarters and warehouses of international organizations.
“We strongly condemn the looting of WFP assets and food that is now taking place in El Obeid (North Kordofan),” the WFP Executive Director wrote on her Twitter account on Thursday.
“Our warehouses have been attacked, and food for 4.4 million people is at risk,” she added, noting that El-Obeid is home to one of the largest WFP logistical bases in Africa.
And the Sudanese Ministry of Health stated in a statement Thursday that the Rapid Support Forces are stationed in 34 hospitals and medical institutions in the capital, and they “captured 29 four-wheel drive ambulances.”
Hundreds of people have been killed in Darfur, on Sudan’s western border with Chad, where fighting continues “in blatant disregard of ceasefire commitments,” said Toby Harward of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The ongoing fighting has impeded the delivery of aid and protection needed by a record number of people (25 million people), or more than half of the population, according to the United Nations.
Despite the growing needs, the United Nations said it had received only 13 percent of the $2.6 billion it needed.
