Canada has closed its embassy in Sudan’s capital as deadly battles between the army and a powerful rival force for control of the country stretched into its third day Monday.
At least 185 people have been killed and over 1,800 wounded since the sudden eruption of violence in Khartoum over the weekend, UN envoy Volker Perthes said. The Sudan Doctor’s Syndicate has estimated 97 civilians have died in the clashes, but there is no official death toll amid acknowledgements many bodies in the streets of the capital cannot be reached as the fighting continues.
The Canadian government had already updated its travel advisory for the country on Sunday, advising Canadians to avoid all travel to Sudan and for Canadians already there to shelter in place. That advisory was escalated further with the closing of the embassy on Monday.
Anyone needing emergency consular services are being told contact the government’s Emergency Watch and Response Centre.
Global Affairs Canada did not immediately answer questions on how many Canadians are in Sudan, or what is being done to assist embassy staff.
There was no word Monday on an evacuation plan for Canadians in the country. The U.S. State Department on Sunday said there would be no such plan for Americans due to the unstable security situation.
“We expect that will remain the case,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday.
“We urge American citizens in Sudan to treat this situation with the utmost seriousness.”
Josep Borrell, the high commissioner for foreign affairs at the European Union, said on Twitter the EU’s ambassador to Sudan was assaulted in his residence in Khartoum earlier Monday.
Borrell did not provide details on the attack or say if the ambassador was injured. Aidan O’Hara, an Irish diplomat who was named the EU’s ambassador to Sudan last year, has not commented on the incident himself.
The fighting in Khartoum and its adjoining sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri since Saturday is the worst in decades and risks tearing Sudan between two military factions that had shared power during a rocky political transition.
The power struggle pits Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, against Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The former allies jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup.
Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo had recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups, but the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command.
The U.S., the UN and others have called for a truce. Egypt, which backs Sudan’s military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which forged close ties to the RSF in recent years as it sent thousands of fighters to support their war in Yemen — have also called for both sides to stand down.
But both generals have thus far dug in, demanding the other’s surrender and ruling out negotiations.
Millions of people have been trapped in their homes or wherever they could find shelter due to the violence. Fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies as darkness fell Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an immediate ceasefire was needed and that the fighting potentially posed a threat to the wider region. The White House said it was in touch with military leaders.
UN chief Antonio Guterres urged a return to calm, saying an already precarious humanitarian situation was now catastrophic and UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said fighting had shuttered many aid programs.
With the U.S., European Union, African and Arab nations all calling for an end to fighting, the UN Security Council was to discuss the developments in Sudan later Monday.
— with files from the Associated Press and Reuters