A U.S. Embassy diplomatic convoy came under fire in Sudan on Monday with a local paramilitary group blamed for the assault. No injuries have been reported.
AP reports the assailants were linked to the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group battling Sudan’s governing military for control of the country.
The vehicles in the convoy reportedly had diplomatic license plates and were marked with U.S. flags.
The Sudanese military said the attack took place in Sudan’s restive Darfur region as fighting in the African nation entered a fourth day and the United Nations called for a ceasefire.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks to press on situation in Sudan demanding an immediate ceasefire and start of negotiations at U.N. Headquarters. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The New York Times reports the U.S. convoy was carrying American officials from their homes in the city to a large American residential compound in central Khartoum, citing four diplomatic officials.
The compound, known as the presidential villas, was built under President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to house visiting heads of state during the 2006 Arab League Summit.
The protected area has been occupied by American officials in recent years and is heavily guarded, is a mile and a half from the military headquarters that has experienced some of the fiercest fighting in recent days, the NYT report further states.
The convoy attack, along with earlier assaults on aid workers and the E.U. envoy’s residence in the capital of Khartoum, flagged a further descent into chaos since the battle by two rival generals for control of Africa’s third-largest country erupted over the weekend, the AP report sets out.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly speak after giving a joint statement on the situation in Sudan during a G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at the Prince Karuizawa hotel in Karuizawa on April 17, 2023. (ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty)
The State Department said late Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone separately to representatives of the warring parties and appealed for calm.
“I made very clear (in my calls) that any attacks or threats or dangers posed to our diplomats were totally unacceptable,” Blinken told reporters at the Group of Seven wealthy nations meeting in Japan.
He appealed for an immediate 24-hour cease-fire, as a foundation for a longer truce and a return to negotiations.
“Indiscriminate military operations have resulted in significant deaths and injuries, recklessly endangering civilians, diplomats, including U.S. personnel, and humanitarian personnel,” he said.
Empty streets and closed shops are seen as clashes continue between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan on April 17, 2023. (Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The two sides seeking control of the country have been using tanks, artillery and other heavy weapons in densely populated urban areas.
Sudan’s military dissolved the civilian government in 2021, placing Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and most of his cabinet under arrest, as Breitbart News reported.