(PatriotWise.com) — Government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said that ten Congolese citizens were among those killed in airstrikes in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on June 4, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In a statement last Monday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the victims were killed when airstrikes hit the campus of the International University of Africa.
Christophe Lutundula, the DRC’s Foreign Affairs Minister claimed that the strikes were carried out by the Sudanese army on unarmed civilian populations, including foreign nationals. Lutundula said that he summoned the Sudanese charge d’affaires to the Foreign Affairs Ministry so he could relay the Congolese government’s protest.
As of last Monday, the Congolese government was still waiting for an explanation from Sudanese officials regarding the June 4 strike, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. Additionally, the government has urged Sudanese officials to take “appropriate measures” to ensure the return of the ten Congolese citizens killed in the strike so they can be buried.
Since mid-April, Khartoum has been at the heart of hostilities between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with civilians frequently getting caught in the crossfire. Since the hostilities began, over 800 people have been killed, according to the Sudanese Doctors Union.
According to the United Nations, more than a million people have been displaced internally or driven out of Sudan to neighboring countries since the hostilities began in mid-April.
The ceasefire talks brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States collapsed earlier this month with new reports of airstrikes and artillery attacks throughout the country.
The Congolese government has asked Sudanese officials to allow for a humanitarian corridor to permit it to evacuate its injured citizens and Congolese still stranded in Sudan.
Last Friday, the Associated Press reported that Sudan’s Foreign Ministry announced that UN envoy Volker Perthes, a central mediator in the conflict, will no longer be welcome in the country.
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