By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Pan-African bloc, African Union (AU) on Sunday sent a delegation to Sudan to broker peace between the two warring generals who have engaged in supremacy tussle for power.
Violence broke out early Saturday after weeks of power strained relations between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, Commander of the heavily-armed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with each accusing the other of starting the fight.
The fight between the duo who seized power in a 2021 coup entered its second day on Sunday with about 50 civilian casualties recorded, including three UN aid workers.
The AU in a statement after an emergency meeting on Sunday said it has delegated its chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, to travel “immediately” to Sudan “to engage the parties towards a ceasefire”.
The Union while expressing “deep concern” about the situation, also called on the forces of the two generals in charge of Sudan to “protect civilians”.
The conflicts and security organ of AU urged the Chairperson of the AU Commission to continue to use his good offices to engage with the parties to the conflict in order to facilitate dialogue and peaceful resolution, while welcoming his commitment to travel immediately to Sudan to engage the parties towards a ceasefire.
AU also urged the warring parties to “quickly adopt a peaceful solution and an inclusive dialogue to resolve their differences” and “firmly reject any external interference that could complicate the situation” in Sudan.
Since when the fight triggered off, there has been air raids that shook the buildings, artillery fire, street fighting with automatic rifles or heavy machine guns.
Residents of Khartoum have also been deprived of water and electricity.
The fighting is concentrated in the capital and in Darfur, in the west of the country.
