The United States and Saudi Arabia affirm their commitment to end the conflict in Sudan

Sudan’s war-torn capital Khartoum suffered a communications blackout for several hours on Friday, the day the Sudanese army launched a major campaign against the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitary group.

Residents of the Khartoum metropolitan area woke up to vital internet and mobile phone connections being cut off. The origin of the fault was not clear, although the networks were restored in the afternoon.

Throughout the day, columns of black smoke were seen rising near army headquarters in central Khartoum, as well as in the south of the city. “Violent clashes” rocked the capital, witnesses told the AFP news agency by telephone.

In the heat of the latest events, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan said this Friday through a telephone call of their commitment to mediate to end the conflict and provide humanitarian assistance to the civilians affected by the fighting.

In a statement, the Army reported that its forces were waging “a land battle” in Khartoum, Bahri and Omdurman to clear the area of ​​rebels” from the FAR, while also combing various areas to find paramilitaries hiding in buildings. residential and other facilities.

“All the operations were successful and carried out according to plan,” said the Army, which acknowledged having suffered “some casualties” in Bahri, but that “they did not affect the course of operations.”

On the other hand, the FAR stated in a statement that they were able to defeat the Army forces, and claimed to have killed hundreds of people.

New attempt at regional mediation in Egypt

The heavy fighting between Sudan’s warring factions in parts of the capital region comes a day after a new mediation effort aimed at ending the three-month war.

A summit of leaders from Sudan’s neighboring countries met Thursday in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss the conflict. It was organized by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and was attended by the leaders of Ethiopia, South Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Libya.

Both the army, which has close ties to Egypt, and the FAR paramilitary group welcomed the effort.

The Army stated that it is willing to reach a ceasefire and stop the war under the condition that the FAR agree to stop attacking civilians and vital infrastructure such as government buildings or roads.

They indicated in a statement that, “once the war is over,” they pledge to “be part of a political dialogue that leads to the formation of a civilian government” that begins a transition process, which would culminate in the holding of elections. “in which all Sudanese participate”.

But its military leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had previously assured that operations against the paramilitaries would not stop unless the FAR withdrew from the Sudanese capital.

For its part, the FAR in another statement also thanked the holding of the summit of neighboring countries of Sudan and called for the “integration of international and regional efforts” to reach a solution to the conflict.

At least ten ceasefires failed

This is the first time that the Army and the paramilitaries have shown themselves open to a cessation of hostilities since a truce was agreed on June 28 that was not respected.

Since then, neither side had indicated its intention to start another armistice or to participate in talks to stop the war.

So far, regional and international mediation efforts have failed to end the fighting: since April, the rivals had agreed to at least 10 ceasefires that failed. UN officials have said Sudan could descend into civil war.

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Sudan’s neighboring countries – where 740,000 people have fled, according to the UN – fear that the conflict will spread to the entire region.

In three months, the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 civilians and displaced more than 3 million people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

‘In danger of allowing history to repeat itself’ in Darfur

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said Thursday that he is investigating alleged new war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur region during the country’s ongoing conflict. He is also looking into “complaints of sexual and gender-based crimes, including mass rapes and alleged reports of violence against and affecting children,” he noted.

Karim Khan told the UN Security Council that fighting between government forces and FAR paramilitaries has spread to Darfur, which in 2003 was ravaged by bloodshed and atrocities. He said the world, the country and the Council are “in danger of allowing history to repeat itself.”

The ICC has four outstanding arrest warrants related to previous clashes in Darfur between 2003 and 2008, including one against former Sudanese president Omar al Bashir on charges of genocide.

In 2005, the Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, and Khan asserted that the court remains mandated under that resolution to investigate crimes committed in the vast western region.

Darfur has been one of the epicenters of the current conflict that began on April 15, becoming a scene of ethnic violence with paramilitary troops and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups.

Earlier on Thursday, the UN human rights office said that at least 87 bodies – some of them from the ethnic African Masalit tribe – were discovered in a mass grave in West Darfur, citing “credible information” that they were killed by FAR fighters and an allied militia.

“We are looking into those allegations,” Khan told the council. “By any measure, we are not on the brink of a human catastrophe, but in the midst of it.”

With AP, Reuters, EFE and AFP