By Columbus Mavhunga, HARARE Zimbabwe
Sudan's rival forces, the Sudanese army and the paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, Thursday traded accusations over the responsibility of Tuesday's attack on Zimbabwe’s embassy in the capital, Khartoum.
Zimbabwe’s embassy and the
house of its ambassador to Sudan, Emmanuel Runganga Gumbo, were
broken into.
The incident was the latest in
a series of attacks on embassies and diplomatic missions in Sudan’s capital,
amid a 10-week conflict in the northeast African nation.
Elwaleed Abdalla Ahmed,
Sudan's Charge d’Affaires to the embassy in Zimbabwe, confirmed the attack
telling VOA the RSF was responsible for ransacking, vandalizing and occupying
the southern African nation's embassy.
"The Rapid Support Forces
have been on destructive (mode)," Ahmed said, adding the RSF were invading
diplomatic missions and "discrediting international norms and laws."
The Sudanese diplomat called
on the international community to condemn the paramilitary group.
"The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs renews its denunciation and condemnation of this terrorist and criminal
behavior of the rebel militia forces and calls on the international community
to condemn it in the strongest terms," he said.
Yousif Eizzat, a member of the
RSF, denied the government's accusations.
"(Since) the beginning of
the war, many embassies in Khartoum, they (SAF) tried to attack them (embassies
and diplomatic missions) just trying to mobilize the world against us, against
the RSF, by attacking embassies and said it is us, without investigation, even
without evidence," Eizzat said.
Livit Mugejo, the spokesperson
to Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking to the state owned media
outlet, The Herald, described the embassy attack as “sheer
criminality.”
"I can confirm that our
properties in Sudan were destroyed by some of the fighting forces in the
country taking advantage that we evacuated our people and the current war going
on there," Mugejo said.
Other embassies that have been
attacked in Sudan include Uganda, Libya, Saudi Arabia, among others.
United Nations
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking at a high-level pledging event on
Sudan and the region earlier this week, called the situation Darfur and
Khartoum "catastrophic."
"The scale and speed of
Sudan’s descent into death and destruction is unprecedented. Without strong
international support, Sudan could quickly become a locus of lawlessness, radiating
insecurity across the region," Guterres said.
More than 2 million people
have been forced from their homes, seeking refuge in different parts of Sudan
or across borders in neighboring South Sudan, Chad and Egypt.
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