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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AFP) – The fighting around the largest oil refinery in Sudan led to the burning of the sprawling complex, according to the satellite data analyzed by the Associated Press on Saturday, which led to the transmission of thick black smoke polluted over the capital The country.
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The attacks on the refinery, owned by the Sudanese government and the state -run Chinese National Petroleum Company, are the latest Will in the civil war between the rebellious rapid support forces and the Sudanese army, who exchanged accusations of responsibility for the fire.
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International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including the American evaluation, have not succeeded that the Rapid Support Forces and their agents commit genocide to stop the fighting.
The jelly refinery is located about 60 km (40 miles) north of the capital, Khartoum. The refinery had been subjected to previous attacks, as the Rapid Support Forces announced their control of the facility since April 2023, when its forces were guarding it. Local Sudanese media reported that the Rapid Support Forces also surrounded the refinery with landmark fields to slow any progress.
But the facility, capable of dealing with 100,000 barrels of oil per day, has been largely intact until Thursday.
On Thursday, an attack on the oil field set fires throughout the complex, according to satellite data from NASA satellites that track forest fires all over the world.
Planet Labs PBC satellite on Friday showed the Associated Press large areas of the flaming refinery. The pictures taken after 1200 GMT showed the flames of the flames rising in the sky in several locations. The oil tanks in the facility were burned and raised with soot.
Dip columns of black smoke escalated over the site, and the wind carried them south towards Khartoum. Excess of this smoke can exacerbate respiratory problems and increase the risk of cancer.
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In a statement issued on Thursday, the Sudanese army accused the rapid support forces of responsibility for the filter fire.
The statement said that the Rapid Support Forces “intentionally set fire to the Khartoum refinery in Eli this morning in a desperate attempt to destroy the infrastructure of this country.”
“This hateful behavior reveals the extent of criminality and degradation of this militia … (and) increases our insistence on pursuing it everywhere until we liberate every inch of its filth.”
For its part, the Rapid Support Forces claimed, on Thursday evening, that Sudanese military planes shot down “explosive barrels” on the facility, which led to “completely destroying them”. The Rapid Support Forces claimed that the Sudanese army was using old commercial cargo planes to shoot down explosive barrels, such as those that were crashed into mysterious circumstances in October.
The Sudanese army nor the Rapid Support Forces provided evidence to support their conflicting allegations.
China, which was the largest commercial partner of Sudan before the war, did not recognize the fire in the refinery. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for suspension.
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China moved to the Sudanese oil industry after Chevron left in 1992 amid violence targeting oil workers in another civil war. South Sudan separated to become an independent country in 2011, taking 75% of Sudanese oil reserves.
A statement issued by his office Friday said that the United Nations Secretary -General Antonio Guterres “is following with great concern for the recent escalation of fighting in Sudan,” noting specifically to the attack on the oil refinery.
The statement stated that “the Secretary -General urges the parties to refrain from all measures that may have serious consequences for Sudan and the region, including serious economic and environmental implications.”
Sudan has been unstable since the popular uprising led to the overthrow of the dictator Omar al -Bashir in 2019. The short -term transition to democracy came out of its path when the army commander, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al -Burhan, and the team, Muhammad Hamdan Daglo, joined the rapid support forces to their forces. To lead a military coup in October 2021.
Al -Bashir faces accusations in the International Criminal Court regarding the implementation of a group of genocide in the early first decade of the twenty -first century in the western Darfur region with the Janjaweed, the predecessor of the Rapid Support Forces. Human rights groups and the United Nations say that the Rapid Support Forces and the Arab militia allied to them again attack African ethnic groups in this war.
The Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Army began fighting each other in April 2023. The conflict between them killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and let some families eat grass in a desperate attempt to survive while famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates indicate that the death toll in the civil war has increased.
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