Armed fighters rampaged through a main city in Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur on Thursday, battling each other and looting shops and homes, residents said. The violence came despite a fragile three-day truce between Sudan’s two top generals whose power struggle has killed hundreds.
The mayhem in the Darfur city of Genena pointed to how the rival generals’ fight for control in the capital, Khartoum, was spiraling into violence in other parts of Sudan.
An East African initiative was pressing to extend the truce, which was due to run out Thursday night, for another three days. The head of the military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, said he had accepted the proposal, but there was no immediate word from his rival, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces.
In the early 2000s, Darfur was the scene of an insurgency by African tribes that had long complained of discrimination. The Khartoum government responded with a military campaign that rights groups have called genocidal, deploying Arab militias known as the Janjaweed who were accused of widespread killings, rapes and atrocities. The Janjaweed later evolved into the RSF.
It was often unclear who was fighting whom, with a mix of RSF and tribal militias - some allies of the RSF, some opponents - all running rampant. The military has largely withdrawn to its barracks, staying out of the clashes, and residents were taking up arms to defend themselves, said Dr. Salah Tour, a board member of Doctors’ Syndicate in West Darfur.
Across Genena, damage was widespread from days of fighting, Haroun and other residents said. The city’s main open-air market was completely destroyed. Government offices and aid agencies’ compounds were trashed and repeatedly burned, including U.N. premises and the headquarters of the Sudanese Red Crescent.
At least 512 people, including civilians and combatants, have been killed in Sudan since April 15, with another 4,200 wounded, according to the Sudanese Health Ministry. The Doctors’ Syndicate, which tracks civilian casualties, has recorded at least 295 civilians killed and 1,790 wounded.
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Fighters rampage in Darfur city despite Sudan truceResidents say fighting has intensified in Sudan's war-ravaged region of Darfur during a fragile three-day truce between the country's battling top generals. The truce eased fighting in the country’s capital, Khartoum. That has created a lull that allowed foreign governments to evacuate thousands of their nationals. Also, tens of thousands of Sudanese traveled to their country’s land borders with Egypt, Chad and Ethiopia, and to a port city on the country’s Red Sea. The new clashes reported on Thursday targeted civilians in the city of Genena, the capital of West Darfur province. Residents described attacks by fighters, mostly wearing uniforms belonging to the country’s powerful paramilitary, on several neighborhoods across the city.
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