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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan capital rocked by air strikes, looting |
| 2023-05-11 |
| [GOOBJOOG] Residents of Sudan’s capital reported heavy air strikes in central Khartoum on Tuesday amid a surge in looting while Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... said negotiators were working toward a short-term ceasefire. Witnesses said the army unleashed intense air bombardment in the centre of Khartoum and around the presidential palace. The rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary said the palace, which it claims to control, was hit by an air strike and destroyed, but an army source denied the claim. The fighting in Khartoum, which erupted April 15, has prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and triggered an aid crisis. The number of people internally displaced within Sudan more than doubled in a week to 700,000, the U.N.’s migration agency said. The two forces, which have failed to abide by repeated truce deals, sent representatives to talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Saturday. In the first report on the talks thus far, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the negotiations aimed to reach "an effective short-term ceasefire", Saudi state TV al-Ekhbariya said. Amid warnings that Sudan is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths proposed the warring parties back a declaration guaranteeing safe passage of aid supplies and the proposal has been discussed in Jeddah, a U.N. spokesperson said. Griffiths "hopes the declaration can be endorsed as soon as possible so that the relief operation can scale up swiftly and safely to meet the needs of millions of people in Sudan," Deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told news hounds. The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... estimates that 5 million additional people will need emergency assistance inside Sudan while 860,000 are expected to flee to neighbouring states that were already in crisis at a time when rich countries have cut back on aid. The World Health Organisation ...Kind of like the Center for Disease Control only run by the UN, with about the results you'd expectt... on Tuesday raised the confirmed corpse count in the conflict to more than 600, with 5,000 injured, though the true figure is thought to be much higher. Lawlessness has taken hold in Khartoum and the two adjoining cities of Omdurman and Bahri, witnesses said. "The biggest danger is the spread of robbery and looting and the total absence of the police and the law," said Ahmed Saleh, 45, from Bahri. Homes, shops and warehouses have all been targeted, residents said. Sudan’s Banks Union condemned burglary and vandalism at some branches, saying banks were seeking to restore services if conditions allowed. |
| Posted by:Fred |