Khartoum residents said that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international calls for a humanitarian truce
\n KHARTOUM
\nAir strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital on Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country\u2019s warring generals kept up their struggle for control.
\nKhartoum residents said that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international calls for a humanitarian truce. The area around the state television building in Khartoum\u2019s sister city Omdurman was one of the sites bombarded, witnesses said.
\nOn Saturday, Qatar\u2019s embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha.
\n\u201cThe State of Qatar condemned in the strongest terms the irregular armed forces\u2019 storming and vandalising its embassy building in Khartoum,\u201d the foreign ministry said.
\n\u201cThe embassy staff had previously been evacuated and\u2026 none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm,\u201d the ministry said.
\nIt renewed calls for \u201can immediate halt to the fighting in Sudan, exercising maximum restraint\u2026 and sparing civilians the consequences of the fighting\u201d.
\nQatar did not specifically identify Daglo\u2019s RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries.
\nThe embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under attack in recent weeks.
\nSaturday\u2019s attack came a day after Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Saudi Arabia urged Sudan\u2019s feuding generals to halt the fighting.
\nThere have been multiple failed truce efforts since the fighting started, and representatives of both sides have been holding talks in Saudi Arabia.
\nAsked about those talks, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday that the focus was \u201con reaching a truce that allows Sudanese civilians to take a breather\u201d.
\nAlthough the main fighting is being played out in Khartoum, the violence has also spread to the war-ravaged western region of Darfur, where the RSF has its roots.
\nIn South Darfur capital Nyala, fighting since Thursday has killed 22 people forcing civilians to flee for safer areas as shells crash on their homes, the bar association in Darfur has said. On Friday, UN aid chief Martin Griffith said he was allocating $22 million in emergency funds to help Sudanese fleeing the violence.
\nThe funds will help relief efforts in Chad, the Central African Republic, Egypt and South Sudan where Sudanese have sought refuge, he said.
\nThe United States promised $103 million for Sudan and neighbouring countries to support displaced people.
\nThe power struggle between regular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), erupted into fighting on April 15.
\nThe conflict has killed hundreds of people, most of them civilians, and displaced more than one million. The United Nations has warned of a fast-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Africa\u2019s third-largest country, where one in three people already relied on aid before the war.
\nOn Friday, Burhan sacked Daglo, giving his title of vice president of the ruling Sovereign Council to former rebel leader Malik Agar, and appointed three allies to top jobs in the military.
\nA former rebel leader who signed a peace deal with Khartoum authorities in 2020, Agar said in a statement Saturday he was determined to try to \u201cend the war\u201d and press for negotiations. He also addressed Daglo directly saying \u201cSudan\u2019s stability can only be re-established by a professional and unified army\u201d.
\nThe integration of the RSF into the regular armed forces has been the main bone of contention between Daglo and Burhan.
\nThe force, which traces its origins to the notorious Janjaweed militia recruited in the early 2000s to crush a rebellion by ethnic minority groups in Darfur, is highly mobile but has a reputation for being ill-disciplined.
\nIts fighters have been accused of widespread break-ins and looting, including at diplomatic missions and aid group offices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Khartoum residents said that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international calls for a humanitarian truce KHARTOUM Air strikes and artillery exchanges shook the Sudanese capital on Saturday and armed men ransacked the Qatari embassy as the country\u2019s warring generals kept up their struggle for control. Khartoum residents said that heavy fighting raged despite repeated international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-332661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n