Ten Congolese dead in Sudan after airstrikes on campus – DR Congo
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said that ten of its nationals were killed in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum on Sunday. The victims were hit during airstrikes carried out on the campus of the International University of Africa, the Congolese Foreign Affairs ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Christophe Lutundula claimed the bombardment was perpetuated by the “regular army on an area occupied by civilian and unarmed populations, including foreign nationals [and] seriously wounded other compatriots.”
Lutundula said he summoned the charge d’affaires of Sudan’s embassy in Kinshasa on Monday to relay “the government’s message of sadness and protest.”
The DRC government is awaiting an explanation from the Sudanese authorities regarding the incident, according to the ministry. It has also urged the authorities of the conflict-torn country to take “appropriate measures to return the remains of compatriots who were mown down for free” for burial.
Khartoum has been a flashpoint of hostilities since mid-April after tensions between generals of the Sudanese Army Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces escalated. Civilians have been caught in the crossfire, with more than 800 deaths recorded, according to figures from the Sudanese Doctors Union.
The United Nations has claimed that more than one million people have been internally displaced within Sudan or driven out to neighboring countries since the outbreak of the clashes on April 15.
Ceasefire talks between the warring factions brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia collapsed last week amid fresh reports of artillery and airstrikes across Sudan.
Kinshasa said it has asked the Sudanese authorities to open a humanitarian corridor to allow it to evacuate injured citizens and those still stranded in Khartoum and other cities across the country.
