EU ambassador assaulted in Sudan

The EU ambassador to Sudan was attacked on Monday amid the continued clashes between the nation’s military and an influential paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said.

The envoy was “assaulted in his own residency,” Borrell said on Twitter. He did not reveal any details of the incident, nor did he name the force behind the attack. It is also unclear if the EU ambassador was hurt in the assault.

Borrell slammed the incident as a “gross violation of the Vienna Convention” while arguing that the security of the diplomatic missions is a primary responsibility of the host nation under international law.

Roughly two hours before that, the EU’s top diplomat said in another Twitter post that the bloc was “working to persuade each side to consider humanitarian pause and to encourage dialogue.” The Sudanese civilians “urgently need a ceasefire,” he insisted.

Earlier on Monday, Al Arabiya reported that a US embassy vehicle was also attacked in Sudan. Sources with the US embassy told the media outlet that the RSF fighters opened fire on the US embassy’s armored vehicle.

The US car was targeted “deliberately”, the sources maintained, adding that some 100 bullets were fired at it. No one was injured in the incident, Al Arabiya said.

Clashes in Sudan broke out on Saturday amid the continued power struggle between army 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 cease-fire from the international community have intensified as the violence in the Sudanese capital has raged on. On Monday, Washington and London joined forces to urge a return to negotiations in Khartoum.

Moscow had earlier voiced concern about the situation in Sudan and has 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 urged an immediate halt to hostilities between the conflicting parties. Egypt also offered itself as a mediator in the conflict.

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