The Group of Seven supported demands for an immediate cessation of hostilities after the United Nations special representative for Sudan reported at least 185 deaths and 1,800 injuries in three days of violence between opposing factions in Sudan.
Volker Perthes said on Monday of the fighting between the army and paramilitary forces overseen by rival generals: "It's a very fluid situation, so it's tough to say where the balance is shifting to."
The two sides utilise tanks, artillery, and other heavy weapons in heavily populated regions. As night fell, fighter jets roared overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the skies.
Perthes also stated that the opposing parties were "not giving the impression that they want mediation for peace between them right away" when speaking to reporters in New York via video.
Millions of people were confined to their homes or wherever they could find cover due to the sudden outbreak of fighting over the weekend between the two senior generals of the country, both supported by tens of thousands of heavily armed warriors. Supplies were running low in many locations.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the armed forces, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander, are engaged in a power struggle. A military coup was planned together by the erstwhile allies in October 2021.
"Gunfire and shelling are everywhere," Awadeya Mahmoud Koko, the head of a union representing hundreds of tea vendors and other food service workers, said from her home in a southern Khartoum neighbourhood.
She claimed that a shell that hit a neighbour's home on Sunday resulted in at least three fatalities. "We couldn't bury them or take them to a hospital."
Just when the Sudanese were striving to resurrect the movement for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military control, the violence heightened the spectre of civil war.
Calls for Truce
The United Nations, the United States, and other parties have requested a ceasefire. Both sides have been urged to cease fire by Egypt, which supports the Sudanese military, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which developed close ties with the RSF as it provided thousands of fighters to aid the war in Yemen.
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, reiterated his demand for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" on Monday, stressing that any further escalation "could be devastating for the country and the region."
According to the main deputy spokeswoman for the State Department, Vedant Patel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Burhan and Dagalo individually while in Japan for a Group of Seven conference. He emphasized the importance of negotiating a ceasefire.
The G7 foreign ministers denounced Tuesday's fighting in a joint statement.
It urged them to resume talks and defuse tensions by saying, "We urge the parties to end hostilities immediately without preconditions."
"The issue with that is that borders and airspace are closed, and it is currently too unsafe for them to travel. Although diplomatic efforts are still being made, they aren't producing anything this time, and the Sudanese people are concerned about that.
The RSF was also declared a rebel organization, and the Sudanese army on Monday demanded its dissolution.
As the battle continued unabated, Dagalo took to Twitter to urge the world community to take action against al-Burhan, referring to him as a "radical Islamist who is bombing civilians from the air".
Under Lockdown
Fearing a protracted struggle that could throw Sudan into further disarray and shatter expectations for a return to civilian government disturbed by the coup that al-Burhan and Dagalo plotted in 2021, the violence has prompted fearful individuals to seek refuge in their houses.
Hiba Morgan of Al Jazeera's Khartoum bureau reported that she and her coworkers have been unable to leave the building for the previous three days because "it is unclear which forces are precisely in possession of specific spots.
It isn't easy to bargain with any party. Instead of senior commanders, we're talking about soldiers here, individuals on the ground. We have been placed under lockdown for the past three days, even if we can communicate with their leadership to learn more about the situation from their perspective. "We have been placed under lockdown for the past three days," Morgan stated.
Residents claim they cannot leave their homes due to the insecurity they are experiencing in other parts of the capital and where we are currently under lockdown.
Under Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, the RSF was established in 2013.
It developed from the so-called Janjaweed militia that his government used in Darfur a decade earlier against non-Arab ethnic minorities, prompting accusations of war crimes.
Fighting broke out due to significant differences between al-Burhan and Dagalo over the proposed integration of the RSF into the regular army, which was a crucial requirement for a final accord meant to settle the current crisis since the coup in 2021.
Both sides claim essential locations, including the airport and the presidential palace, but neither claim has been independently verified. The two sides blame one another for starting the conflict.
