3 UN staff among those killed in clashes in Sudan
By Editorial Team
Three staff of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have been killed as fighting continues between forces loyal to the head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council General Al Fattah Al Burhan and troops belonging to his deputy General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo according to BBC.
The 3 WFP staff were reportedly shot when fighting erupted at a military base in Kabkabiya in western Sudan.
One Khartoum resident whom Juba Echo spoke to via WhatsApp said she was stuck in her house with “bullets flying around her house.”
Sudanese Doctors’ Union reported on Sunday morning that 27 people have been killed and about 200 others were injured in the clashes.
it said it was unable to tell how many of those killed and injured were civilians and how many were soldiers.
Fighting broke out in Khartoum on Saturday morning following a disagreement between Sudan’s two generals who have been running the country since the overthrow of former president Omar Al Bashir.
General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan is a carrier soldier who found himself leading Sudan after the overthrow of former president Al Bashir ( Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council with powers of a president of a state) while General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo became deputy to chairman of the country’s sovereign council ( an equivalent of a vice president of a country)
However, General Hamdan rose to prominence from heading a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces which some experts say number more than 40,000 troops.
The disagreement that led to the clashes is on the duration for the unification of Sudan’s Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, whereas, General Al Burhan wants the process completed between 2-3 years, General Hamdan wants the integration to last 10 years.
Each side is blaming the other for beginning the clashes in Khartoum and there are reports of fighting spreading to other towns such as Port Sudan.
