EU ambassador assaulted in Sudan
The EU ambassador to Sudan was attacked on Monday amid continuing clashes between the nation’s military and an influential paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has claimed.
The envoy was “assaulted in his own residency,” Borrell tweeted. He did not reveal any details regarding the incident, and did not say who was behind the attack. It is unclear if the EU ambassador was hurt in the assault.
Borrell called the incident a “gross violation of the Vienna Convention,” adding that the security of diplomatic missions is the responsibility of the host nation under international law.
Around two hours earlier, the EU’s top diplomat said in another Twitter post that the bloc was “working to persuade each side to consider [a] humanitarian pause and to encourage dialogue,” adding that civilians "urgently need a ceasefire."
Earlier on Monday, Al Arabiya reported that a US Embassy vehicle was also attacked in Sudan. Sources with the embassy told the media outlet that RSF fighters opened fire on the armored vehicle.
The car was deliberately targeted, the sources said, adding that around 100 bullets were fired at it. No one was injured in the incident, according to Al Arabiya.
Clashes broke out on Saturday in Sudan amid the continuing power struggle between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, led by his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Burhan has de facto led the nation’s interim governments since the nation’s longtime ruler, Omar Al-Bashir, was ousted in a coup in 2019.
Khartoum has witnessed intense gunfire and bombardments over the past days, which have led to the deaths of at least 97 civilians, and left 365 others injured, according to the Sudanese medical authorities.
Three UN World Food Programme employees were among those killed in the violence, forcing the agency’s operations in Sudan to be temporarily halted.
Calls for a ceasefire from the international community have intensified as the violence in the Sudanese capital rages on. On Monday, Washington and London joined forces to call for a return to negotiations in Khartoum.
Moscow earlier expressed concern about the situation in Sudan, and encouraged “the parties to the conflict to show political will and restraint and take prompt measures to cease fire.”
Leaders from East Africa reportedly held an emergency virtual session and called for an immediate halt to the hostilities. Egypt also offered itself as a mediator in the conflict.
