More than 120, mostly civilians, killed in two days in Sudan bombardments

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00:00Next, we turn to Sudan. At least 127 people, mostly civilians, were killed there over the

00:05past 24 hours, excuse me, 48 hours, by barrel bombs and shelling from the warring sides.

00:12This news comes from rights activists observing the civil war that began on April 15, 2022.

00:18The conflict between the state army and the paramilitary rapid support forces has been

00:22turning increasingly bloody as ceasefire efforts have stalled and crises elsewhere have dominated

00:27world attention.

00:31These ruins are all that are left of this bus after it was hit by a shell on Tuesday.

00:36Fourteen passengers died as well as several passers-by in an army-controlled sector of

00:41Omdurman near Khartoum, Sudan's capital. The governor of Khartoum denounced it as an act

00:48of terrorism perpetrated by the rapid support forces.

00:56This attack, instead of being directed at our heroes on the front lines, is aimed at

01:01these innocent civilians in their everyday lives, whether on public transportation or

01:06in markets.

01:13This attack is widely seen as a reprisal for airstrikes carried out by the Sudanese army

01:18in the north Darfur town of Kap Kabir. More than eight barrel bombs hit the market, killing

01:23at least 127 people. The army has frequently targeted towns in north Darfur as it fights

01:30the RSF for control of the state capital, Al-Fashir. In a statement released on X, the

01:36army denied any responsibility.

01:38Some political parties affiliated with the terrorist Daglu militia have been spreading

01:42lies after every strike targeting rebel activity sites carried out by our forces. The armed

01:47forces affirm its continuation of exercising its legitimate right to defend the country.

01:53According to the United Nations, 20,000 people have died since the start of the conflict

01:58in April 2023, but the real death toll could be much higher, as parties have been accused

02:04of using famine as a strategic tool of war.

02:07On Wednesday, Sudan topped the emergency watch list published by the International Rescue

02:12Committee. The report found that Sudan had become the biggest humanitarian crisis ever

02:16recorded, where 30.4 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid.

02:46It's one of the worst crises that we've seen in the 21st century, as the report noted.

02:58You have 30 million people that are in need of humanitarian aid, 26 million people that

03:04are facing acute hunger, that are facing near-famine-like conditions. 11 million people have had to flee

03:11their homes, and about 10,000 people are leaving every day. Some people are staying

03:17within Sudan's borders, but many are fleeing to South Sudan, which is already a very unstable

03:23and deeply impoverished state, and similar conditions facing refugees that leave and

03:29flee for Chad. That also then creates refugee crises and instability and very precarious

03:37situations for those refugees living in both Chad and South Sudan. So this is completely

03:44spiralled out of control at this point, and it would require a lot more international

03:48attention to stem the acute crisis that they're facing.

03:53I'm sorry about that, Nash. I'll try not to interrupt you, because what you're saying

03:55is extremely interesting. What I wanted to say was that the situation is awful, as you

04:01just described it, and it is deeply, deeply disturbing that so many people are affected.

04:06But it's worth pointing out to people watching that this is actually sort of building on

04:10other similar situations that Sudan has lived through. We're reporting about the barrel

04:16bombing in Darfur, but it's within, obviously, everybody's living memory that just back in

04:222003, there was a massive, massive war in Darfur. Over 200,000 people were killed.

04:28Exactly. So Sudan hasn't really enjoyed much stability. There's always been some sort of

04:34conflict that it's faced. And part of the problem was that Sudan has always faced dictatorship,

04:41whether it be very personalistic styles of dictators, most notably the recent dictatorship

04:47of Omar Bashir, who was ousted in 2019, of course. But he purposely armed different groups.

04:53And so there were many different militias that he armed in order to offset one another

04:58so that they wouldn't really challenge him directly. And he used them for his own purpose

05:03In many events, in many instances, they were being used to engage in what some would call

05:10genocide against his own people. So there's been a history of conflict. There's been a

05:15history of militias. And there hasn't really been much experience with stability and some

05:21sort of power-sharing arrangement, which is why it failed so spectacularly when they tried

05:29to come up with a power-sharing arrangement after Bashir was ousted.

05:33Indeed. Omar al-Bashir ousted in 2019. General al-Burhan and Hemedi Dagalo were, of course,

05:42the two who tried to share power. They can't get on and do that. In a nutshell, can you

05:48describe to us what the issue is between these two groups? Why can't they work together?

05:54So it has just to do with a personal rivalry. They have been part of the top elites in Bashir's

06:03government, and they were sort of jockeying for power when Bashir was president of Sudan.

06:12And neither leader is satisfied with having the other one holding power. So the rapid

06:21support forces, which are being led by Mohammed Dagalo, who goes by Hemedi, they're trying

06:29to integrate those rapid support forces into the regular Sudanese military. But if they

06:35do so, Hemedi fears that he would lose and the militia that he runs would lose power.

06:42And they don't want to agree to that. So essentially, they're refusing to give up the power that

06:47they have, seeing that one of them wants to be on top. And unfortunately, that's not the

06:52way it works. And once again, the shadow of history is still there because the rapid support

06:57forces are the current day successors of the infamous Janjabi militia from Darfur.

07:01Exactly. So that is their history there, that they have, I mean, they've engaged in all kinds

07:09of atrocities. And historically, these types of groups, I mean, it's a very complex group,

07:16the rapid support forces. It's made of many different tribal militias and warlords that

07:22are used to having control over their own little bits of territory and are struggling

07:27really to integrate themselves and are possibly concerned about facing any kind of transitional

07:34justice for all the atrocities that they had committed in the past.

07:38Natasha Lindstedt, thank you very much for giving us this context, which is vital to

07:42understand the situation in Sudan, which is, as you pointed out, alarming, to say the very

07:47least. Natasha Lindstedt, Deputy Dean at the University of Essex, as we heard, a specialist

07:51with knowledge on all levels of what is happening right now in Sudan. Natasha, thank you very much

07:56for joining us here on France 24. We appreciate your time. Thanks for having me.

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