Death toll in Sudan's military clashes surpasses 180

The number of casualties from the fighting is likely to rise, with many of the wounded unable to reach hospitals for treatment. A Sudanese doctors' group said the fighting had also "heavily damaged" multiple hospitals around the capital.

Large portions of the capital were without electricity and water. The violence also affected Khartoum's adjoining sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri, with bridges linking the cities blocked by armored vehicles.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Monday again condemned the outbreak of fighting and appealed to the leaders of Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group "to immediately cease hostilities, restore calm and begin a dialogue to resolve the crisis."

"I urge all those with influence over the situation to use it in the cause of peace," he said, adding that "the humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious and is now catastrophic."

The two military factions battling for control of Sudan had shared power during a shaky political transition. The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the country's armed forces and head of the transitional council, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, head of the RSF and deputy head of the transitional council.

John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told reporters on Monday that U.S. officials had "been in direct contact" with both generals "to urge them to end the hostilities immediately." He added that U.S. officials were also working closely with the African Union, the Arab League and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East African bloc.

"We call for an immediate cease-fire, without conditions, between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces," he said. "As Secretary Blinken mentioned this morning, the fighting is killing civilians and threatens the Sudanese nation as well as stability in the region."

Satellite image shows a view of destroyed airplanes at Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. [Courtesy VOA]

"It's another example of the generals feeling threatened by a transition that might have diminished their powers, might have diminished the monopoly that they control," said Jeffrey Feltman, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and former special envoy to the Horn of Africa at the U.S. State Department.

"What we have now is a fight for power. It's a lust for power - who is going to prevail among these two generals," Feltman told VOA.

Pro-democracy activists have accused both generals of being involved in human rights abuses.

In addition to the fighting around Khartoum, violence has also broken out in Sudan's western Darfur region, threatening to renew a decades-old conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced Monday it has halted much of its operations in Sudan because of the fighting.

In a statement, IRC regional Vice President Kurt Tjossem said, "Conflict has disrupted humanitarian action where over a third of the population, an estimated 15 million people, including refugees, are experiencing acute food insecurity. Humanitarian actors have limited ability to enter and operate in areas with ongoing war."

The World Food Program also suspended its operations in the country after the deaths of three of its staff members.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday in Nairobi to discuss the situation in Sudan. Participants appealed to the Sudanese military and RSF leaders to de-escalate conflict and restore stability.

The U.S. and British foreign ministers have called for an "immediate cessation of violence" in Sudan and urged the opposing parties to return to talks. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British counterpart, James Cleverly, made their statement in Japan on the sidelines of talks involving the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, known as the G-7.