“This morning we woke up to clashes between the military and paramilitaries. Although our heart surgery hospital is located about ten kilometers from the site of the clashes in Khartoum, we heard very, very loud bangs, probably from heavy artillery. Then they started chasing each other information about what’s happening in the city”. She told Adnkronos from the Sudanese capital Muhameda Tulumovic, director of the Emergency program in Sudan, explaining that the violence would have been triggered by an alleged attack on a paramilitary headquarters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the country manager of Emergency, the situation in Khartoum is “very tense” since “there is fighting in almost all neighbourhoods” and this has forced a “reduction in the activities of the cardiac surgery hospital” in the capital, which is now it only deals with serious cases due to the difficulty of the staff in reaching the workplace. The paramilitary forces – he confirms – have taken control of the airport and the presidential palace.
“We also have information on the fact that the head of the RSF (General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, ed) has declared that he will not stop until he manages to bring democracy to the country” and to oust the commander of the regular forces from power, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, points out.
Tulumovic therefore points out that the situation is “quite difficult” in other Sudanese states as well. “We have a pediatric clinic in Nyala, in South Darfur, which has already received the first two cases: they are also shooting there for the control of the airport – he says – The situation is instead more calm in Port Sudan, where there is a our other hospital”.
The director of Emergency now specifies that she is safe together with our compatriots who work for the organization right inside the heart surgery hospital in Khartoum, which is located in a “quieter” area. Emergency has around fifty operators in Sudan, 40 of whom are Italian and most of them concentrated in the capital.
“For the moment there is no talk of an evacuation also because the airport is closed and it is presumed they have hit it”, adds Tulumovic, underlining that the situation in the country had further “heated up” after the failure to materialize the agreement in early April that it was supposed to bring Sudan under civilian rule. “There it was understood that the situation would mount – he concludes – we knew something would happen but not in these terms”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com