Sudan crisis might spill to neighboring countries: European Commission
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European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic warns that the repercussions of the clashes spreading there would be catastrophic.
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Smoke rises over the city as army and paramilitaries clash in a power struggle, in Khartoum, Sudan, April 15, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media. (Reuters)
European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said as quoted by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that there is a risk that the crisis in Sudan can be spilled to other countries in the region.
He warned that there are very fragile countries among Sudan's neighbors and the repercussions of the clashes spreading there would be catastrophic.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Lenarcic prioritized reconciliation between the two forces of rival generals -- General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan's Sudanese Armed Forces and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Earlier, Sudan’s ousted Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok stated that the conflict in Sudan could turn into one of the world's worst civil wars if it is not put to a stop early on.
Hamdok explained that the ongoing conflict was a “senseless war” between two armies, given that “there is nobody who is going to come out of this victorious. That is why it has to stop.”
UN warns of collapse as Sudan fighting enters third week
Warplanes on bombing flights received intense anti-aircraft fire above Khartoum on Saturday, as the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reached its third week, breaching a recently restored truce.
Since April 15, battles have erupted between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan's forces and his number two, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti).
While the number of dead civilians keeps rising and chaos and lawlessness engulf Khartoum, a city of five million people where many have been confined to their homes without food, water, or electricity, they have repeatedly agreed to ceasefires that have failed to yield many results.
To escape the fighting, tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes in Sudan or have made difficult journeys to neighboring Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.
Al-Burhan and Dagalo have agreed to multiple fragile truces since the start of the fighting, with each side blaming the other for violating them.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, the African Union, and the United Nations mediated the agreement to the most recent three-day truce, which will end at midnight on Sunday.
Read next: Sudan on 'the edge of the abyss': UN chief
