KHARTOUM: Fighting between the army and paramilitaries in Sudan has killed around 200 people and wounded 1,800, left hospitals damaged and medical supplies and food in short supply on Monday after three days of urban warfare.

The European Union ambassador to Sudan was attacked in his home in Khartoum, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said.

“A few hours ago, the EU Ambassador in Sudan was assaulted in his own residency,” Borrell wrote on Twitter, without detailing any injuries to the envoy. “Security of diplomatic premises and staff is a primary responsibility of Sudanese authorities and an obligation under international law,” he added.

The EU ambassador to Sudan is veteran Irish diplomat Aidan O’Hara. EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said he was “OK” following the assault.

The United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire and international bodies, including the European Union, have expressed grave concern.

A weeks-long power struggle exploded into deadly violence on Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup, Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Battles have also taken place throughout the vast country, and there are fears of regional spillover. Terrified residents of the capital are spending the last and holiest days of Ramadan watching from their windows as tanks roll through the streets, buildings shake, and smoke from fires triggered by the fighting hangs in the air.

The conflict has seen air strikes, artillery and heavy gunfire.

Those compelled to venture out face queues for bread and petrol at outlets which are not shuttered. Residents are also dealing with power outages.

Volker Perthes, the head of the UN mission to Sudan, told the Security Council in a closed-door session, that at least 185 people have been killed and another 1,800 wounded. “It’s a very fluid situation so it’s very difficult to say where the balance is shifting to,” Perthes told reporters after the meeting.

Earlier on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again called on Sudan’s warring parties to “immediately cease hostilities”. He warned that further escalation “could be devastating for the country and the region.”

Medics in Sudan had earlier given a death toll of nearly 100 civilians and “dozens” of fighters from both sides, but the number of casualties was thought to be far higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.

The official doctors’ union warned fighting had “heavily damaged” multiple hospitals in Khartoum and other cities, with some completely “out of service”.

The World Health Organisation had already warned that several of Khartoum’s nine hospitals receiving injured civilians “have run out of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids and other vital supplies”.

In the western region of Darfur, international medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders reported receiving 136 wounded patients at the only hospital in El Fasher still operating in North Darfur state.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2023