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CAIRO, April 28 (AP) – Armed fighters rampaged through a major city in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region Thursday, fighting each other and looting shops and homes, residents said.
The violence came despite a tenuous truce between Sudan’s two top generals, whose power struggle has left hundreds dead.
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The chaos in the Darfur city of Genena shows how a struggle between rival generals for control of the capital, Khartoum, is turning into violence in other parts of Sudan.
Later on Thursday, the two sides agreed to extend the truce for 72 hours. The deal, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, did not stop the fighting but created enough calm to allow tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign countries to evacuate hundreds of their own citizens by land and sea .
The ceasefire has led to a significant de-escalation of fighting in Khartoum and its neighboring city of Omdurman for the first time since clashes between the army and rival paramilitary forces began on April 15.
The fighting turned residential areas into battlefields.
The military led by General Abdul Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by General Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo said late on Thursday they accepted the extension of the truce.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who has spoken to both generals several times, earlier acknowledged the limits of the ceasefire.
“We’ve had a 72-hour ceasefire, which like most ceasefires is not perfect, but it still reduces violence,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged British nationals who wished to leave to make an evacuation flight to an airport north of Khartoum before the truce ended at midnight on Thursday.
“The situation could worsen in the coming days,” he warned. Britain said it had evacuated 897 people on eight flights to Cyprus and that operations were continuing.
Even in the capital, the fighting has not stopped, residents say. In western Darfur, residents say violence is escalating to its worst levels.
Darfur has been a battleground between the military and the paramilitary RSF since the conflict began nearly two weeks ago.
Residents say the fighting in Jenana is now dragging down tribal militias, exploiting long-standing feuds between the region’s two main communities — one Arab and the other East or Central African.
In the early 2000s, African tribes in Darfur who had long complained of discrimination rebelled against the Khartoum government, which responded with military action that the International Criminal Court later said amounted to genocide.
State-backed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed have been accused of widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities.
The Janjaweed later evolved into RSF.
Fighters, mostly in RSF uniforms, attacked several blocks of Genena early Thursday, evicting families from their homes.
The violence escalated as tribal fighters joined the fight in Jena, a city of about half a million people near the Chadian border.
“The attacks came from all directions,” said Amani, a Jinana resident who asked her surname not to be used for security reasons. “They’re all on the run.”
It was often unclear who was fighting whom, and a mix of RSF and tribal militias — some allies of the RSF, some opponents — were rampant.
Dr Salahtoor, a board member of the Doctors Syndicate in West Darfur, said the military had largely withdrawn from the barracks and stayed away from the conflict, with residents taking up arms in self-defense. capital.
The group estimated dozens were killed and hundreds injured.
Almost all of Genena’s medical facilities, including its main hospital, were out of service for several days, while the only functioning hospital was also inaccessible due to fighting.
The group said “criminal gangs” robbed the main hospital, stole vehicles and equipment and destroyed the hospital’s blood bank.
Some residents said some militants on motorcycles roamed the streets, destroying and looting offices, shops and houses.
“This is a scorched-earth war,” Adam Harun, a political activist in West Darfur, said by phone, gunshots sometimes drowning out his voice.
Harun and other residents said the city’s main souk was completely destroyed.
Compounds of government offices and aid agencies were damaged and burned several times, including United Nations premises and the headquarters of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society.
Abdel-Shafei Abdalla, a senior member of a local group that helps manage the camps, said two main camps for displaced people had been burned and their occupants – mainly Women and children from African tribes – scattered.
There have also been sporadic clashes elsewhere in Darfur, particularly in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur province.
Abdullah said thousands had fled their homes in Nyala, while others were afraid to go out in search of food and water.
Earlier this month, fighters allegedly from the Rapid Support Forces destroyed and looted warehouses of the World Food Program and other aid agencies in Nyala.
At least 512 people, including civilians and combatants, have been killed and 4,200 others injured in Sudan since April 15, according to Sudan’s health ministry.
A syndicate of doctors tracking civilian casualties recorded at least 295 civilian deaths and 1,790 civilian injuries.
Meanwhile, in Khartoum, residents reported shooting and explosions in parts of the capital on Thursday.
Military warplanes bombed RSF positions in the upmarket Kafouri neighborhood, they said.
The RSF confirmed that its nearby camp was bombed.
Many people are struggling to get food and water, and much of Khartoum and other cities are without power. Several aid agencies had to suspend operations.
Fearing another escalation of fighting, Sudanese and foreigners fled.
Egypt’s foreign ministry said 14,000 Sudanese had fled to Egypt. Long bus queues continued to form at the border, and tens of thousands traveled to other neighboring countries or the Red Sea city of Port Sudan to try to catch a ferry to Saudi Arabia.
The internationally recognized governments of Iraq and Yemen each said they had helped more than 200 citizens flee Sudan.
Canada conducted its first evacuation flight on Thursday after coming under fire for a slow response, and allies are still doing the heavy lifting to help Canadians leave the country.
Hassan Ali, a Dutch citizen who arrived in the Cyprus city of Larnaca on an evacuation flight, told The Associated Press he had been trapped at his home in Khartoum for days. Most areas have no water, only intermittent electricity.
“Most of the time we (are) locked at home unless you really need something urgent, food, medicine. That’s it,” he said. Many sought shelter in hospitals, although “most hospitals were also attacked by both sides”.
“People, they just left it all behind,” he said of those who left. “No cash, no money. You take your bag.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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