Fighting with ‘heavy weaponry’ in Sudan’s El-Fasher: UN

A senior UN official expressed concern late Saturday at reports that heavy weapons were being used in fighting in the Sudanese city of El-Fashur.

Wounded civilians were being rushed to hospital and civilians were trying to flee the fighting in the Darfur region, said a statement from Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.

“I am gravely concerned by the eruption of clashes in (El-Fashur) despite repeated calls to parties to the conflict to refrain from attacking the city,” said Nkweta-Salami.

“I reiterate — the violence threatens the lives of over 800,000 civilians” who live in the city.

“I am equally disturbed by reports of the use of heavy weaponry and attacks in highly populated areas in the city center and the outskirts of (El-Fashur), resulting in multiple casualties,” she added.

The United States last month warned of a looming rebel military offensive on the city, a humanitarian hub that appears to be at the center of a newly opening front in the country’s civil war.