At least 97 civilians have been killed in Sudan as the death toll rises from fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.
The Sudan Doctors' Syndicate announced the updated death toll on Monday morning but said it could not include all casualties as many people are unable to reach hospitals amid the clashes.
A separate pro-democracy organization, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, said at least 942 civilians and soldiers had been wounded.
Sudan's capital, Khartoum, continued to be rocked by gunfire, loud explosions and airstrikes on Monday.
Residents also reported power outages and cases of looting.
Army chief moves to dissolve RSF
The head of Sudan's army, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, ordered the dissolution of the RSF paramilitary on Monday, the country's Foreign Ministry said.
The RSF emerged in 2013 from the Janjaweed militias that fought on behalf of the former Sudanese government in Darfur. It had been recognized as an independent security force and its leader served as Burhan's deputy in the military junta.
The army and the RSF have been fighting since Saturday amid a longrunning power struggle between their two leaders.
Burhan also branded the RSF as a rebellious group, the Foreign Ministry said, after the RSF accused the army of being "radical Islamists."
Germany calls on both sides to end conflict
Germany's Foreign Office has called for both sides in Sudan to end the conflict.
On Monday, a spokesperson said a crisis committee had convened and is following the situation closely.
In Khartoum, Christine-Felice Röhrs from German charity, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, told DW that civilians have been caught in the crossfire.
"This remains extremely worrying, of course, because this is still some sort of urban warfare with little regard to the lives of millions of civilians in this biggest city of the country," she said.
"And the fighting is playing out in front of people's yards in roads where kids go to school, on squares where people would shop. But nearly all of the normal life is halted at the moment."
Röhrs was skeptical about claims made by the army and the RSF.
"If you are looking at what the warring parties are putting out, this is mostly propaganda," she said. "It's about who has won what. And this is very often contradicted in the next minute by the other side."
RSF leader asks international community to intervene
Mohamed Hamdan Daglo — the head of the RSF who is more commonly known as Hemeti — blamed three days of clashes on army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
"His army is waging a brutal campaign against innocent people, bombing them with MiGs," Hemeti said in a statement on Twitter.
"Our actions are merely a response to the siege and assault against our forces," he added.
The leader of the RSF, which was previously accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur, painted Burhan and the military as "radical Islamists." He called for the international community to intervene in the conflict.
The chair of the Germany-based Sudan Forum, Marina Peter, told DW that this conflict between Hemeti and Burhan was foreseeable and had been simmering since the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Blinken expresses 'deep concern' over violence
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that there is a "shared deep concern" among allies toward the situation in Sudan.
"And also a strongly held view, again, across all of our partners on the need for an immediate ceasefire and return to talks — talks that were very promising in putting Sudan on the path to a full transition to civilian led government," he added
Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Japan, Blinken said the people of Sudan want democracy and for the military to "return to the barracks."
This sentiment was echoed by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly who said "uiltimately, the immediate future lies in the hands of the generals who are engaged in this fight, and we call upon them toput peace first, to bring an end to the fighting, to get back tonegotiations."
It comes after the African Union and United Nations also called for an immediate cease-fire without conditions over the weekend.
What's behind the fighting in Sudan?
Fighting erupted on Saturday after a weekslong power struggle between Burhan and his deputy, Hemeti, who heads the RSF paramilitary.
The two leaders disagreed over the planned integration of the 100,000-strong RSF into Sudan's regular army, which was key condition for the deal they struck in the wake of the 2021 military coup that they orchestrated together.
Analysts believe Hemeti opposes such a move.
Sudan's political situation has been tense since mass protests led to the ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Burhan headed the Transitional Military Council that was supposed to usher in civilian elections. These plans were frozen when he and Hemeti staged the 2021 coup.
Earlier this month, Sudanese authorities indefinitely postponed a new agreement to hand over control to a civilian government.
"There's still a lot of support throughout the country for democratic transition," Kholood Khair, director of the Sudan-based Confluence Advisory, told DW on Sunday.
"We have to remember that this power struggle between the generals is by no means indicative of the broader politics that are taking place in Sudan."
