KHARTUM(AP) – Sudanese forces and powerful militias fought for control of the chaos-stricken country for two days on Sunday despite mounting diplomatic pressure to end hostilities. Regardless, they showed they were unwilling to put out the fire.
Heavy fighting involving armored vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and jet fighters raged on Sunday in the capital Khartoum, the neighboring city of Omdurman and hotspots across the country. Rival powers are believed to have tens of thousands of fighters in the capital alone.
At least 56 of his civilians were killed, including three UN food agency personnel. The Sudan Doctors Syndicate said it believed dozens more had died among rival forces. About 600 people, including civilians and militants, were injured, he said.
The clashes are part of a power struggle between the commander of the army, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Force Group, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. The two generals are former allies who together orchestrated the October 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy. In recent months, internationally backed negotiations have renewed hopes for an orderly transition to democracy. However, rising tensions between Barhan and Dagalo eventually delayed an agreement with the political party.
Security in Karuizawa is tight, but Japan was forced to address security concerns after a young man threw explosives at Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the eve of diplomats’ arrival, who was unharmed on Saturday. and continued to campaign, but the attack is an unwelcome development for Tokyo in the ongoing security dispute over the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nine months ago.
The three-day meeting was also the first real test of the Biden administration’s claim that minimal damage was done by the disclosure of classified documents related to the war in Ukraine and by the U.S. view of its allies and partners.
Before traveling to Japan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday from Hanoi that he had heard no concerns from allies, but the revelations will loom over the G-7 meeting, the first major international diplomatic conference since the documents were discovered online and made public.
On the diplomatic front, the talks, which end Tuesday, will be dominated by worries over the Russian leader’s threats to use tactical nuclear weapons as his forces struggle in Ukraine, China’s increasing belligerence toward Taiwan, the self-governing island Beijing claims as its own, and North Korea’s record-setting run of illicit weapons tests.
Some observers expect that Japan and other nations might use the G-7 to announce an increase in aid to Ukraine.
Though diplomats from Beijing won’t be present in Japan, China’s rapid military rise will also play a large part in discussions. China recently sent planes and ships to conduct a mock siege of Taiwan, and in recent years has witnessed a rapid increase in nuclear warheads, hardening of China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea, and an increase in President Xi Jinping’s rhetoric.
Partly in response to China’s rise, Japan has made a major departure from its post-World War II doctrine of pure self-defense and is committed to acquiring first-strike capabilities and cruise missiles to counter the growing threat.
Diplomats will also seek ways to resume diplomacy aimed at pressuring rival North Korea to return to arms control talks. Since last year, North Korea has tested about 100 missiles, including her ICBM, which showed potential to reach the US mainland, and other short-range weapons that threaten South Korea and Japan.
