SITUATION REPORT – HORN OF AFRICA No. 412, 18 April 2023

Situation in Sudan (per 18 April)

• The reports from the ground of Sudan indicate that neither of the two fighting armed forces have full military control. Fighting continued in Khartoum on 17 April with intermittent heavy shootings and sounds of explosions with the death toll rising.
• The escalation emerged after a deal to restore civilian power collapsed, when the Sudan Armed Forced (SAF) proposed a 2-year timeline for the integration of the Rapid Security Forces (RSF), while the RSF demanded a minimum of ten years for the integration. 
• Abdel Fattah al Burhan states he is open to mediation. He says IGAD mediation with Presidents of Kenya, South Sudan and Djibouti is not realistic and their safety can not be guaranteed.
• US State Secretary Antony Blinken called with both  Momahed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) and Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan urging them to uphold a 24 hour ceasefire. 
• A US diplomatic convoy was attacked yesterday by the Rapid Sudan Forces (RSF), Blinken confirmed, and was followed by a direct warning to RSF leader Hemedti.
• Human Rights activists are calling for an immediate ceasefire. Civilians ask to have a chance to bury the dead. Sudanese Women’s Rights Action calls on the international community to ‘take action’ to end the military escalation.
• Sudanese doctors reported 160 recorded civilian deaths and over 800 wounded. 
• The situation in Sudan as a result of the fighting is serious. Doctors report that they have worked non-stop since Saturday.  13 hospitals are reportedly closed because of direct attacks or have been hit.
• Sources express doubt about whether the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanders are in control of their troops. 
• Church sources report rapes, destruction of cars, cafeteria and stores, and looting committed by RSF. SAF is also accused of looting.
• Three MIG fighter planes of Egypt in Merowe in North Sudan have been destroyed. Rapid Sudan Forces (RSF) leader, Hemedti, reportedly blamed the local commander in a call with Cairo.
• The EU Ambassador, Aidan O’Hara, was attacked in his residency in Khartoum, said the EU High Representative/Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.
• Borrell stated that “This constitues [sic] a gross violation of the Vienna Convention. Security of diplomatic premises and staff is a primary responsibility of Sudanese authorities and an obligation under international law.”
• Various incidents involving expats and UN/NGO staff, listed below, were reported by local sources.
• Armed uniformed personnel, reportedly from RSF, are entering the residences of expats, separating men and women and taking them away near the Ozone area in Khartoum. 
• RSF personnel entered a building in Khartoum, where 4 international staff members of an NGO were housed.
• RSF personnel abducted 2 Nigerian male staff members and attempted to sexually assault a female international staff member. 
• Armed men in RSF uniforms fired gunshots at security guards and broke into the compound of the Office for Coordination Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, twice in an attempt to steal OCHA vehicles, but they failed to start the engines both times and left.
• Petronas Building which hosts several UN agency offices (UN HABITAT, UNAIDS, IFAD, UNODC, Global Fund, ILO, UNOPS and UNEP) came under attack when some snipers, allegedly from SAF went on the rooftop of Petronas and fired gunshots. 
• Some damage was reported, but UN security personnel were unhurt.
• In the evening of April 16, an Rocket-propelled Grenade (RPG) hit the residence of a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) national staff member at Burri in Khartoum. As a result, the official (FAO) vehicle was damaged. Staff and dependents were unhurt. 
• On 17 April, a projectile exploded and caused substantial damage to the residence of a UN international staff member, at the Amarat area in Khartoum. The staff member was reportedly out of the country along with his family.
• Sources note a trend of RSF taking control of houses and buildings to convert them to operational centres, which escalates the risks of collateral damage to civilians and UN/NGO personnel.
• There is an increasing trend of criminality targeting UN and humanitarian personnel in Khartoum and other regions of the country, especially in Darfur. 
• At about midday on April 17, the RSF took the house occupied by UN staff and RSF personnel for their operations in Amarat 55 Street. 
• A female international staff member was informed that the building in which she was staying had been taken by RSF.
• One student reportedly died after he left Khartoum’s Faculty of Art where 89 Students had been trapped for two days in a university library, who now appear to have been able to leave.
• It is reported that Kabkabiya town is under RSF control.

Situation in Ethiopia (per 18 April)