CAIRO, June 14. /TASS/. The number of civilians killed in fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has exceeded 950, the Sudanese Doctors' Union reported on Wednesday.
"The number of civilian fatalities as a result of the clashes has risen to 958," the Al Arabiya TV channel quoted the organization’s statement as saying. According to the Sudanese Doctors' Union, 4,746 civilians were wounded since the start of the clashes.
The organization also said that neither hospitals nor clinics were functioning in the city of el-Geneina (Sudan’s West Darfur region). "The situation in the region is catastrophic," the Sudanese doctors pointed out.
The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists. On April 15, clashes between the two military structures erupted near a military base in Merowe and in Khartoum.