Nairobi (Kaab TV) – Rising tensions between rival factions of Sudan’s armed forces have exploded into all-out battle on Saturday.
Fighter jets fired rockets into Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, on Saturday, and at the city’s airport, civilian planes were bombed and terrified passengers cowered on the terminal floors.
The fighting has also spread deep into the region of Darfur.
More than 83 people have been killed and over 1,126 others injured, and it remained unclear who was in control.
Only four years ago, the widely detested president who had ruled for three decades, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was toppled by a popular uprising. But hopes for democracy faltered 18 months ago when the two most powerful generals — the army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan — together seized power in a coup. They are now fighting each other.
Sudan’s neighbors sought to jump-start diplomatic efforts, with the African Union and a separate regional bloc convening emergency meetings yesterday, and Egypt and South Sudan offering to mediate between the rival factions.
But neither side has indicated a willingness to meet for talks.
Darfur is the region, where al-Bashir’s government oversaw a campaign of genocidal violence beginning in 2003, is home to several heavily armed rebel groups that analysts fear could get sucked into the fight.