At least 56 people die in fighting between Sudan’s army and rival force

Violent clashes between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have killed at least 56 people in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. 

Much of the fighting reportedly took place in densely populated neighborhoods of the impoverished African nation. 

Amal Mohamed, a doctor in a public hospital in Omdurman, recounted the lethal chaos. 

“Fire and explosions are everywhere,” he said. 

While Khartoum is no stranger to unrest, this round of fighting appears to be more intense than in the past. 

“We haven’t seen such battles in Khartoum before,” said local resident Abdel-Hamid Mustafa. 

The United States and other international players are monitoring the ongoing fighting in Sudan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday revealed that he consulted with the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on the military escalation in Sudan. 

“We agreed it was essential for the parties to immediately end hostilities without pre-condition,” said Blinken. 

At the center of the fighting is an intense rivalry between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the country’s army and in practice serves as the war-torn country’s president, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the RSP force.

Sudan joined the historic Arab-Israeli Abraham Accords alongside the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. In return, the former U.S. administration under President Donald Trump promised to remove Sudan from its official list of terrorist-sponsoring governments and increase the supply of financial aid to the African country.