Region

KHARTOUM — Explosions and gunfire resounded in Sudan's capital Thursday as fighting between the forces of two rival generals showed no signs of abating ahead of festivities marking the end of Ramadan.

Over 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Some of the fiercest battles have taken place in the capital Khartoum, a city home to 5 million people, most of whom have been cloistered in their homes without electricity, food and water.

"We were awoken today at around 4:30 am to the roaring sound of fighter jets and air strikes," said Nazek Abdalla, a 38-year-old in southern Khartoum. "We locked our doors and windows hoping no stray bullets would hit our building."

The fighting entered a sixth day hours after another truce unravelled, with the crackle of gunfire heard and columns of thick black smoke seen rising from buildings around Khartoum International Airport and the army headquarters in the capital.

The RSF, a powerful force formed from members of the Janjaweed militia that led years of extreme violence in Darfur, had said its forces would "fully commit to a complete ceasefire" from Wednesday evening for 24 hours, as did the army.

But witnesses said gunfire did not stop in Khartoum, as another ceasefire was breached within minutes of its supposed start for the second time in as many days.

Beyond Khartoum, witnesses reported loud explosions in the city of Obeid, in central state of North Kordofan.

'Reeks of death' 

"It reeks of death in some parts of town," said a witness who was leaving a hotspot in central Khartoum. 

Ahmed Al-Mandhari of the World Health Organization said Thursday that "almost 330 people have died and almost 3,200 more" had been wounded in Khartoum, the western Darfur region and other states.

The fighting has taken a heavy toll on civilians across Sudan.

"We wish the fighting would stop during Eid festivities" which is to begin Friday marking the end of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting, said Abdalla, the resident of southern Khartoum.

“We know it will not happen though,” he added.

Burhan and Daglo’s bitter dispute centred around the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a final deal aimed at restoring Sudan’s democratic transition.

Around the capital and elsewhere, RSF fighters atop armoured vehicles and pickup trucks mounted with machineguns have taken over the streets.

Many have put up checkpoints to search cars carrying civilians trying to escape Khartoum’s worst battle zones to safer areas in the capital and beyond.

Fighting has damaged residential and commercial buildings, and civilians sheltering in their homes are becoming increasingly desperate.

By Tuesday, thousands of Sudanese had fled the capital, with many saying they had seen corpses littering the streets as they made their way to safety.

Sudanese medics have warned of a catastrophic healthcare situation, especially in Khartoum where many hospitals were apparently caught in the crossfire.

As many as 70 perc ent of the hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states have been rendered “out of service” due to fighting, the doctors’ union said.

The union has warned the death toll was likely to be far higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals.

Many countries have started to make plans to evacuate thousands of foreigners from the north African country, but their efforts have been put on hold by the ongoing violence.

The Sudanese army said 177 Egyptian soldiers were evacuated from the northern city of Meroe back to Egypt, which also confirmed their arrival. The RSF said later it handed over another 27 Egyptian soldiers to the Sudanese Red Cross and Cairo confirmed their arrival at the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum.

The United Arab Emirates said it had “led” the mediation for the Egyptians held by the RSF.

Burhan and Daglo toppled autocratic president Omar Al Bashir together in April 2019 following massive protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.

In October 2021, the two men worked together in the coup against the civilian government installed following Bashir’s ouster, derailing an internationally backed transition to democracy.

Burhan, whose career advanced under Bashir, has maintained his coup was “necessary” to bring more factions into politics.

But Daglo, who rose to prominence during the Bashir government’s scorched-earth policy against Darfuri rebels, has since called the coup a “mistake” that failed to bring about change and invigorated Bashir’s remnants.

KHARTOUM — Thousands of residents fled Sudan's capital Wednesday as fighting between the army and paramilitaries, which has killed around 200 people, raged for a fifth day after a 24-hour truce collapsed.

The violence erupted on Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

It followed a bitter dispute between them over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army — a key condition for a final deal aimed at restoring Sudan's democratic transition.

Deafening explosions rattled buildings and heavy gunfire were heard in Khartoum, as witnesses said plumes of thick black smoke emanated from buildings around the army headquarters in central Khartoum.

RSF fighters atop armoured vehicles and pick-up trucks laden with heavy weapons swarmed the streets, as the army's fighter jets roared overhead and fired on RSF targets, the witnesses said.

Civilians huddled in their homes were becoming increasingly desperate, with dwindling food supplies, power outages, and a lack of running water.

Their hopes of being evacuated were dashed when a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire collapsed within minutes of its proposed start at 1600 GMT on Tuesday.

Thousands of people took matters into their own hands and, according to witnesses, began leaving their homes in Khartoum, some in cars and others on foot, including women and children.

They said the streets were littered with dead bodies, the stench of which filled the air.

The fighting has killed at least 185 people and injured more than 1,800, according to the United Nations.

But the real figure is thought to be far higher with many wounded unable to reach hospitals, which are themselves being shelled, according to the official doctors' union.

Governments have starting planning to evacuate thousands of foreigners stuck in the country, among them many UN staff.

Japan said its defence ministry had begun the “necessary preparations” to evacuate around 60 of its nationals from Sudan, including embassy staff.

The US embassy in Khartoum said it started gathering citizens’ personal details while urging them to remain indoors and stay away from windows.

“Due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, there are no plans for [a] US government-coordinated evacuation,” it tweeted.

The violence has also seen a US diplomatic convoy fired upon, the European Union’s ambassador attacked at home and a Belgian humanitarian official with the EU hospitalised after reportedly being shot.

On Tuesday, United Nations emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths said the UN had received “reports of attacks and sexual violence against aid workers”.

Aid groups have reported looting of medical and other supplies. 

After the collapse of the truce, the army accused the “rebel militia” of failing to commit to it and of continuing “skirmishes around the army headquarters and the airport”.

The RSF pointed the finger at the army for “committing violations” and breaching the ceasefire by launching “sporadic attacks” on its forces and bases around the capital.

International 

actors ‘bide time’ 

The latest violence, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, came after more than 120 civilians had already been killed in a crackdown on regular pro-democracy demonstrations over the past 18 months.

Both generals have positioned themselves as saviours of Sudan and guardians of democracy, in a country which has known only brief democratic interludes.

Since the start of fighting, each side has claimed the upper hand and that they have taken control of key sites or made advances on the other’s bases across Sudan.

None of the claims could be independently verified.

“Neither side seems to be winning at the moment, and given the intensity of the violence, things could get even worse before the two generals come to the negotiating table,” said Clement Deshayes, a Sudan specialist at Paris’s Sorbonne University.

But that would necessitate “regional allies exerting pressure, and right now their declarations aren’t heading in that direction, with international actors seemingly biding their time until the situation is clearer”.

Saturday’s outbreak of violence is the culmination of deep-seated divisions between the army and the RSF, which was created in 2013 by longtime autocrat Omar Al Bashir.

Burhan and Daglo toppled Bashir together in April 2019 following mass protests against his three decades of iron-fisted rule.

They have since been allies with their relationship interspersed with brief periods of tensions.

In October 2021, the pair led a military coup against the civilian government, which was installed following Bashir’s ouster, derailing an internationally backed transition.

Burhan, a career soldier from northern Sudan who rose the through ranks under Bashir, has maintained his coup was “necessary” to include more factions into politics.

But Daglo, also known as Hemeti, has since called the coup a “mistake” that failed to bring about change and invigorated Bashir’s remnants.

LALISH, Iraq — One by one, members of Iraq's minority Yazidi community light oil lamps to mark their New Year at a sacred shrine, but for Omar Sinan the celebration cannot erase the atrocities of terrorists’ rule.

In 2014, the Daesh group swept across swathes of Iraq, carrying out horrific violence against the Kurdish-speaking community whose non-Muslim faith the extremists considered heretical.

Daesh massacred thousands of men and abducted thousands of women and girls as sex slaves.

Tuesday night as the sun set over the Lalish stone shrine in northern Iraq, Yazidis began lighting oil lamps, 365 of them, one for each day of the year.

Hundreds came to mark the Yazidi New Year — which to the faithful commemorates the creation of the universe by angels and celebrates nature and fertility.

Six years after Iraq declared victory over Daesh, the Yazidis came to Lalish barefoot and dressed in white.

The men wore embroidered vests over their shirts while women donned traditional head coverings, featuring gold coins.

"Before, this was a time for celebration and our joy was immense. But today... we cannot forget what we have been through," said Sinan, attending the celebration with his children.

The Yazidis follow an ancient religion that emerged in Iran more than 4,000 years ago and is rooted in Zoroastrianism. Over time it incorporated elements of Islam and Christianity.

The community was persecuted for years, including under Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

'For eternity' 

When Daesh invaded Iraq in August 2014, one of their targets was Sinjar, the Yazidis' historic home on the Nineveh Plain, in a remote corner of the country's north.

"Ever since the genocide, there is sadness in our hearts. It won't go away," said Sinan, a 37-year-old mathematics teacher.

"This sadness will live in us for eternity."

During the New Year celebration, Yazidis pay their respects at the graves of relatives, and those who can afford it slaughter a sheep and offer some of the meat to the poor.

Iraq's federal government in Baghdad has dedicated the first Wednesday of April as a holiday for the Yazidi community.

Before Daesh marched into their villages in 2014, there were 550,000 Yazidis nationwide out of a worldwide total of 1.5 million, including in neighbouring countries and the diaspora.

But after the massacres and the abductions, nearly 100,000 fled abroad, according to the United Nations. Most went to Europe, Australia and Canada to try to build new lives.

Arabic-language teacher Faleh Jomaa, 60, was among those who decided to stay in Iraq with his wife and three children, unlike his four brothers and their families who emigrated to Germany.

"The Yazidi community has suffered 74 genocides over time but it rises again each time, like plants from the depth of the Earth," he said.

In January, Germany's parliament recognised the 2014 massacre of Yazidi by Daesh as a "genocide", following similar moves by parliaments in Australia, Belgium and The Netherlands.

Displaced 

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani said "political and security measures" have yet to be adopted to allow displaced Yazidis to return to Sinjar.

In March, his government allocated $38.5 million to rebuild Sinjar and villages in the Nineveh Plain.

According to the UN migration agency, IOM, more than 200,000 Yazidis who survived Daesh brutality are still displaced living in and outside camps across Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

"The needs of displaced persons and returnees in Sinjar remain high," the IOM said in a report in January, noting a "lack of adequate shelter and basic services... including running water, electricity, health care and education".

Daesh terrorists "destroyed around 80 per cent of public infrastructure and 70 per cent of civilian homes in Sinjar City and surrounding areas", it added.

Khawla Abdou, who fled with her husband and eight daughters to Germany, chose to return home this year to mark the New Year in Lalish.

"We came to pray to God on this sacred day so that he could free our daughters who are still held by the enemy," the 67-year-old said.

"May God hear our prayers and free our daughters. We cannot forget them and we will never forget what happened in Sinjar."

According to the IOM, more than 2,700 Yazidis are still missing, some held by militants.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian President Bashar Assad met with Saudi Arabia's top diplomat in Damascus on Tuesday, state media reported, ending more than a decade of diplomatic deep-freeze between the two countries.

"President Bashar Assad meets Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

The Saudi prince arrived in Damascus on Tuesday afternoon on the first visit to Syria's capital by a Saudi official since the start of the country's civil war in 2011.

Assad has been politically isolated in the region since the conflict began, but a flurry of diplomatic activity has been underway in the past week as regional relations shift following a decision by Saudi Arabia and Damascus's ally Iran to resume ties.

The trip comes less than a week after Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia, also on the first such visit since the conflict began.

Last week, diplomats from nine Arab countries met in the Saudi city of Jeddah to discuss ending Syria's long spell in the diplomatic wilderness and its possible return to the 22-member Arab League after Damascus was suspended in 2011.

The diplomats stressed the "importance of having an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis" in Syria, according to a statement by the Saudi foreign ministry.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Assad's government in 2012 and Riyadh had long openly championed Assad's ouster, backing Syrian rebels in earlier stages of the war.

Several other Arab countries also cut ties with Syria as some powers bet on Assad's demise.

But regional capitals have gradually been warming to Assad as he has clawed back most of the territory lost to rivals, with crucial backing from Russia and Iran.

The United Arab Emirates, which re-established ties in late 2018, has been leading the charge to reintegrate Damascus into the Arab fold.

A February 6 earthquake that wreaked devastation in Turkey and Syria sparked Arab outreach to Assad's government, and the surprise rapprochement between Riyadh and Tehran was announced the following month.

Assad himself has visited both Oman and the United Arab Emirates since the quake.

Syria’s foreign minister visited this month Algeria and Tunisia on the heels of trips to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in a diplomatic push.

Syria is to reopen its diplomatic mission in Tunisia and appoint an ambassador there, following a similar move announced by Tunis.

Prince Faisal had said in February that a consensus was building in the Arab world that a new approach to Syria requiring negotiations with Damascus would be needed to address humanitarian crises.

Riyadh sent aid to both rebel-held and government-controlled parts of Syria, but the effort did not involve direct contact with Assad’s government.

In March, Saudi state media had said that Riyadh and Damascus were in talks on resuming consular services.

Regional rivals Shiite Muslim Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia have supported opposing sides in several regional conflict zones including Yemen, and also vie for influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

During a trip to Moscow last month, Assad told broadcaster Russia Today that “Syria is no longer a scene of Saudi-Iran conflict”.

Syria’s war has killed more than half-a-million people, while around half of the country’s pre-war population has been forced from their homes.

Assad is hoping normalisation with wealthy Gulf states could bring economic relief and money for reconstruction, as broader international funding remains elusive without a United Nations-backed political settlement to the conflict.

Analysts say sanctions on Syria will likely continue to deter investment.

NABLUS, Palestinian Territories — Israeli forces shot and wounded seven people in a raid on Tuesday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said as the Israeli army confirmed an operation was underway.

The ministry reported "six minor injuries from live fire" reached Jenin governmental hospital, while another person shot had been admitted to a nearby hospital following the raid in the northern West Bank city.

A statement from the Israeli military said "security forces are currently operating in the Jenin (refugee) camp", without giving further details.

There was no immediate confirmation of the identity of those wounded in Jenin, a hotbed for Palestinian armed groups.

Frequent incursions by Israeli forces have led to clashes with local youth or militants, with at least 25 Palestinians killed in the city this year and no Israeli fatalities.

The latest raid comes amid a spike in violence in Israel and the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

The conflict has this year claimed the lives of at least 96 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.

These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors and three members of the Arab minority.

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday as fighting that has claimed nearly 200 lives entered a fourth day, despite growing international calls for an end to hostilities.

A weeks-long power struggle erupted into deadly violence on Saturday between the forces of two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Battles have taken place throughout the vast east African country and there are fears of regional spillover of the conflict that has seen air strikes, artillery and heavy gunfire.

In a statement, G-7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan called for the warring parties to "end hostilities immediately", as loud explosions were heard on Tuesday morning in Khartoum, where militiamen in turbans and fatigues roamed the streets.

Terrified residents of the capital are spending the last and holiest days of Ramadan watching from their windows as tanks roll through the streets, buildings shake and smoke from fires triggered by the fighting hangs in the air.

According to witnesses, pick-up trucks with anti-aircraft missiles — stationed in residential areas of Khartoum — were loaded with additional ammunition supplies Tuesday morning.

"Bombardments usually start around 4:00 am and they continue for a few hours, but today they haven't stopped," said Khartoum resident Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem.

"We haven't slept in the past four days," she said, adding her family had been staying indoors "trying to keep our sanity intact".

Families waited on Tuesday, heavy suitcases in hand, for the few buses heading south of the capital, according to AFP reporters, as more people use rare lulls in the fighting to flee Khartoum. 

But as many have lost power and internet connection after four days of sporadic supply, residents are finding it increasingly difficult to get reliable information.

Misinformation has proliferated on social media, confusing civilians who are anxious for news about attacks and reported looting, how safe it is to move and what pharmacies are still open.

The current toll stands at over 185 people killed and 1,800 injured, according to the UN.

The number of casualties is thought to be far higher, with many wounded unable to reach hospitals, themselves under shelling, according to the official doctors’ union.

Four hospitals in the greater Khartoum area have been “shelled and evacuated”.

Across the country, 16 hospitals are “out of service”, according to the union, while those that can still operate are facing “severe shortages”, including of medical staff, water and food supplies. 

Civilians have also seen their food supplies run out, as the violence has prevented the few grocery stores that remain open to replenish dwindling stocks. The fighting has also damaged aircraft and brought a halt to flights to and from Khartoum airport.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken with the two generals and “underscored the urgent need for a ceasefire”.

Daglo said on Twitter after his call with Blinken that the RSF “reaffirms its approval” of a 24-hour “armistice to ensure the safe passage of civilians and the evacuation of the wounded”.

The army bluntly dismissed his statement, however.

“We are not aware of any coordination with the mediators and the international community about a truce, and the rebellion’s declaration of a 24-hour truce aims to cover up the crushing defeat it will receive within hours,” it warned on Facebook.

Blinken said a US diplomatic convoy had been fired upon on Monday, as the European Union said its ambassador to Sudan was attacked in his home in Khartoum.

The fighting broke out on Saturday after bitter disagreements between Burhan and Daglo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a final deal aimed at ending a crisis since the 2021 coup, which derailed a transition to democracy.

Both claim to be in control of key sites, including the airport and the presidential palace, none of which could be independently verified.

Analysts say the fighting in the capital is unprecedented and could be prolonged.

In the western region of Darfur, international medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported receiving 183 wounded patients at the only hospital in El Fasher still operating in North Darfur state, 25 of whom it said had died.

“The majority of the wounded are civilians who were caught in the crossfire — among them are many children,” MSF’s Cyrus Paye said.

Three UN World Food Programme staff were also among those killed on Saturday in Darfur, where humanitarian missions have had medical and other supplies looted, according to Save the Children and MSF.

A number of organisations have temporarily suspended operations in the country, where one-third of the population needs aid.

Influential northern neighbour Egypt said it had discussed with Saudi Arabia, South Sudan and Djibouti, all close allies of Sudan, “the need to make every effort to preserve stability and safety”.

President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi called on the two sides to “return to the negotiating table” and said he was working on the return of Egyptian military “trainers” captured Saturday at an air base by RSF forces.

TUNIS — Tunisian authorities closed the offices of Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha on Tuesday, a day after arresting its leader Rached Ghannouchi, a senior party official said.

"A police unit showed up at the party's main headquarters [in Tunis] and ordered everyone there to leave before closing it," Riadh Chaibi said.

"The police also closed the other offices of the party elsewhere in the country and prohibited any meeting in these premises," he told AFP.

The move came after Ghannouchi, 81, was arrested at his home in the capital Tunis, the latest in a string of opposition figures held. 

Ennahdha was the largest party in Tunisia's parliament before President Kais Saied dissolved the chamber in July 2021.

Since early February, authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and personalities.

Saied, 65, claims those detained were "terrorists" involved in a "conspiracy against state security".

Ennahdha vice-president Mondher Lounissi said late Monday that Ghannouchi had been taken to a police barracks for questioning and that his lawyers had not been allowed to attend.

His arrest came after media reports in which he allegedly said Tunisia would be threatened with "civil war" if political Islam, from which his party originated, were eradicated in the country.

A source at the interior ministry quoted by Tunisian media confirmed that Ghannouchi’s arrest was linked to these statements.

Ghannouchi was the speaker of Tunisia’s parliament before Saied dissolved it and went on to seize wide-reaching powers through a series of moves opponents have dubbed a “coup”.

Opponents of Saied accuse him of reinstating autocratic rule in Tunisia, which was the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East region more than a decade ago.

After his dramatic power grab, he has ruled by decree, and last year rammed through a constitution that gave his office unlimited powers and neutered parliament.

EU expresses ‘great concern’ 

The European Union expressed “great concern” over Ghannouchi’s arrest and the closure of Ennahdha’s offices.

In a statement, it recalled the “importance of respect for the rights of the defence as well as the right to a fair trial”.

The 27-nation bloc also raised the “fundamental principle of political pluralism”, saying these elements were “essential for any democracy and form the basis of the European Union’s partnership with Tunisia”.

Human rights groups have criticised the arrests, which targeted leading figures of the National Salvation Front (FSN), the main opposition coalition, which includes Ennahdha.

“The arrest of the leader of the most important political party in the country, and who has always shown his commitment to peaceful political action, marks a new phase in the crisis,” FSN head Ahmed Nejib Chebbi told AFP late Monday. 

“This is blind revenge against opponents,” he added.

Ghannouchi appeared in court at the end of February on terror-related charges after being accused of calling police officers “tyrants”.

He had already been in court last November over allegations his party had helped extremists travel to Iraq and Syria.

Before that, he was interrogated over alleged money laundering in relation to foreign donations for an Ennahdha-linked charity.

Ghannouchi was exiled for more than two decades under late dictator Zine El Abidine Ali, but returned following the country’s 2011 uprising to become a dominant figure in Tunisian politics.

But his star has gradually faded, with his detractors accusing him of being a master pragmatist who would do anything to stay in power. 

While unable to gather an absolute majority, he has always managed to ensure that Ennahdha remained essential in the various coalitions since the uprising.

PARIS — Sudan, where fighting is raging between the army and paramilitary forces led by rival generals, has a history of civil strife and coups.

Here are five things to know about the vast east African country:

Same ruler for 30 years 

Sudan was ruled for three decades by career soldier Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Bashir seized power in a 1989 coup during the second of two civil wars fought by the mainly Muslim north against the mainly Christian and animist south after Sudan gained independence in 1956.

Under Bashir, an Islamist, floggings were frequently meted out for crimes such as adultery and drinking alcohol.

He signed a peace deal with the south in 2005 but was accused of widespread atrocities in the western Darfur region, where he deployed a brutal Arab militia in 2003, known as the Janjaweed, to suppress a rebellion by non-Arab rebels in a war that left hundreds of thousands dead.

In 2013, the Janjaweed fighters were formed into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the heavily armed paramilitary force that is currently battling Sudan’s military.

Bashir was deposed by the army in 2019 after a popular uprising triggered by the tripling of the price of bread. The military seized power again in 2021, led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.

Split in two 

Sudan endured two civil wars between its northern and southern regions, the first from 1955 to 1972 and the second from 1983 to 2005. Millions died in the conflicts.

Under the terms of a 2005 peace deal, the Southerners were allowed to hold an independence referendum.

In January 2011, 99 percent voted to secede and the independent state of South Sudan was born six months later.

The split removed roughly a quarter of the territory of what had been Africa’s largest country.

Sudan also lost most of its oil fields, which are situated in South Sudan.

Bin Laden links 

The late leader of the Al-Qaeda terror network, Osama Bin Laden lived in Sudan for five years in the 1990s, investing heavily in the local economy.

But he was expelled in 1996 after the US piled pressure on Khartoum to expel suspected terrorists.

Two years later, Al Qaeda bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing over 200 people. The US retaliated by bombing a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum. Washington claimed the plant was linked to chemical weapons, which Sudan vehemently denied.

In 2020 Sudan was removed from a US blacklist of alleged state sponsors of terror in a quid pro quo with Washington for normalising relations with Israel.

Gum power 

Sudan is the world’s largest producer of gum arabic, a key ingredient used in everything from soft drinks to chewing gum and pharmaceuticals.

The golden blobs of resin tapped from thorny acacia trees are one of Sudan’s main foreign currency earners.

Their importance to the world economy earned them a special exemption from the US trade embargo imposed on Sudan during the three decades of Bashir’s rule.

Meanwhile, the trees themselves are drought resistant, helping Sudan, which is one of the countries worst affected by climate change, fight desertification.

More pyramids than Egypt 

Sudan’s ancient civilisations built more pyramids than the Egyptians, but the ancient tombs of Meroe, about 220 kilometres north of Khartoum in the desert, remain largely unexplored.

Meroe was the heartland of the Kush kingdom, which occupied Egypt for close to a century until the seventh century BC.

Around 250 pyramids have been excavated at the UNESCO World Heritage Site since the 1960s.

But unlike the grander Egyptian pyramids of Giza, they rarely receive visitors.