CAIRO (AP) - Sudan has plunged into chaos since fighting erupted in mid-April between the country’s two rival top generals. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there’s a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water.
In central areas of Khartoum, sporadic explosions could be heard Thursday, a day after the United Nations warned that the Sudanese people are “facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” and after the latest in a series of cease-fires expired earlier in the day.
Black plumes of smoke rising from downtown neighborhoods dotted Khartoum’s skyline at midday. The fighting also raised questions about the viability of internationally backed initiatives seeking to bring an end to the violence that upended the African country’s transition to democracy.
The conflict started on April 15, preceded by months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting turned urban areas into battlefields and foreign governments rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan.
Both sides have traded accusations of truce violations over the past weeks. On Thursday, each side claimed its forces were the subject of attacks. The military said late Wednesday it clashed with RSF forces around key government institutions in Khartoum, including the Republican Palace in the capital’s center.