There has been mild pandemonium in war-torn Sudan after an 18-storey building landmark skyscraper was engulfed by huge flames with huge plumes of black smoke billowing from it yesterday.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that the fire at the Greater Nile Petroleum Company Tower in Khartoum erupted during clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the war enters its sixth month.
One of the highest structures in the capital of Sudan, the burned-out glass-paneled tower was shown in online video footage of the conflagration on Sunday morning to be emitting clouds of dark smoke.
Witnesses claimed that paramilitary forces also assaulted the army headquarters for the second straight day. Both the cause of the fire and any fatalities are unknown.
The fire at the Greater Nile Petroleum Company Tower (pictured) in Khartoum erupted during clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a war that has been raging for more than five months.
It is unclear how the fire started or if anyone has died. Online footage of the blaze showed clouds of dark smoke rising from the burnt-out glass-panelled tower, one of the tallest buildings in the Sudanese capitalhas been rocked by violence since mid-April, when tensions between the country’s military, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting
‘Clashes are now happening around the army headquarters with various types of weapons,’ witnesses from Khartoum said on Sunday, while others reported fighting in the city of El-Obeid, 350 kilometres (about 220 miles) south.
Battles between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces intensified on Saturday, resulting in several key buildings in central Khartoum being set alight like the Greater Nile Petroleum Company Tower.
Sudan has been rocked by violence since mid-April, when tensions between the country’s military, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, burst into open fighting.
The conflict has reduced Khartoum to an urban war zone. In the Greater Khartoum area, RSF troops have commandeered civilian homes and turned them into operational bases, while the military has responded by bombing the residential areas, rights groups and activists say.
In the western Darfur region, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the United Nations.
The conflict has killed more than 4,000 people, according to August figures from the United Nations.
However, the real toll is almost certainly much higher, doctors and activists say.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that last month, Amnesty International said both warring parties have committed extensive war crimes, including deliberate killings of civilians and sexual assault.