GEOFF BENNETT: More than 180 people have died in the brutal battle for control of Sudan.
Another 1,800 have been wounded since fighting between rival military factions first broke out early Saturday.
The two sides are now digging in, shattering hopes that Sudan could achieve a peaceful transition to democracy.
Plumes of smoke billowed above the Khartoum skyline as shelling and gunfire pounded the capital for a third straight day.
The deadly struggle for power between rival military factions rages on.
The Sudanese army is battling a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces for control of the country.
RSF forces released a video today purportedly showing them in control of the Sudanese military's headquarters in Khartoum and an airport in Merowe.
The two generals were once allies who teamed up to oust longtime dictator and indicted war criminal Omar Hassan El-Bashir back in 2019.
The clashes, which erupted Saturday, stem from a disagreement over how to integrate the RSF forces into the military.
They now threaten to derail efforts to restore civilian-led government after decades of military rule.
TAGREED ABDIN, Sudan Resident: We have nothing to do with this.
GEOFF BENNETT: Local residents like Tagreed Abdin are stuck in the crossfire.
TAGREED ABDIN: We're just caught in the middle.
And I don't have a preference.
I don't even -- it's like just this is our new normal now.
GEOFF BENNETT: Millions of civilians are holed up in their homes across Khartoum as gun battles rage in the densely populated urban area.
Thousands of troops are positioned in nearly every neighborhood.
The humanitarian situation in Sudan was already precarious.
Now it's even more so.
Those who are able to locate one of the few open markets find bare shelves.
MAN: All the water, all milk, everything is empty here.
NABA MOHIE: People right now want food, medicine, shelter, electricity.
But, above all, they want peace and security.
GEOFF BENNETT: Special correspondent Naba Mohie is in Khartoum.
NABA MOHIE: There is an electricity blackout.
It's affecting everyone.
Patients cannot go to hospitals.
The hospitals are not operating very well.
And, also, ambulances cannot go everywhere because of the violence in the streets.
So it's a catastrophic situation for everyone, for children, for women, for elderly people.
GEOFF BENNETT: At least six hospitals in Khartoum were also forced to shut down after either being damaged or threatened by the violence.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urgently appealed for calm, as the U.N. Security Council met in New York.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, United Nations Secretary-General: The situation has already led to horrendous loss of life, including many civilians.
Any further escalation could be devastating for the country and the region.
GEOFF BENNETT: The African Union and Arab League also held emergency meetings over the weekend.
So far, their efforts to end the bloodshed have not been successful.
For more on what has caused this upheaval and the prospects for ending the violence, we turn to Kholood Khair.
She's a Sudanese policy and political analyst and is also the founding director of Confluence Advisory, a Sudan-based policy think tank.
Thank you for being with us.
And we should say that you are in Sudan's capital city.
What's it like right now in Khartoum?
What are you seeing?
What are you hearing from the people that you encounter?
KHOLOOD KHAIR, Founding Director, Confluence Advisory: Well, there's a pretty constant soundtrack of different types of firepower and different types of gunfire.
We're hearing from sort of small arms, small bullets to heavy artillery, and even sort of bombs being dropped from planes.
And this is the third day running.
So it's getting pretty desperate.
We're hearing a lot from people who feel stranded.
They haven't had electricity for, some of them, more than 36 hours.
They're not able to access medicine or hospital care.
And, of course, we have heard of a large number of casualties and fatalities as well.
GEOFF BENNETT: Help us understand how we got to this point, mounting tensions between Sudan's two most powerful generals, each backed by a formidable force, all of this boiling over into an open conflict.
KHOLOOD KHAIR: At the heart of it, it's a contest for power.
Both of these generals were on pretty friendly terms until very recently.
In fact, they staged a coup together in October of 2021.
But, recently, their differences superseded their mutual desire to avoid accountability and to avoid having to reform their forces.
And that pretty much happened during the time of a framework agreement December of last year.
So, over the past four months, we have been seeing this ratcheting up of tensions between them.
They have brought in troops from all over the country into Khartoum.
There's been lots of bellicose language from both of them.
And, in the end, one of them had to commit fully to an agreement, which he didn't want to.
And this precipitated this sort of exchange of firepower.
GEOFF BENNETT: Return to civilian rule was supposed to mark a new era in Sudan.
How does this deadly violence affect that goal?
KHOLOOD KHAIR: Yes, ironically, the very thing that the generals wanted to avoid, which is security sector reform, reform of the ways in which they run their troops and their institutions, as well as accountability for crimes, particularly those committed on civilians, those are the very things now that will be front and center after this confrontation in Khartoum.
And that's because, in many ways, people are shocked and dismayed at how this political contest, which has always been fought in other parts of the country, is now being fought bang-smack in the middle of the capital.
GEOFF BENNETT: U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is calling for an immediate end to the hostilities in Sudan.
He says he spoke with top diplomats from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two countries that have considerable interests in Sudan.
What more can the international community do here?
KHOLOOD KHAIR: It's imperative that it's not these countries don't just use the influence on the generals, but, more importantly, their leverage.
Countries in the sort of region around Sudan, particularly Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, have considerable leverage over these generals.
And that's what they should deploy to get them to at least commit to a cease-fire in the immediate term.
I think we have to question to what extent the international community, which has for quite a few months backed this very unpopular deal that essentially allowed the generals to feel that they could have this kind of all-out war, or at least partially contributing to it.
They have to question and rethink the way in which they engage with these generals, whom they have framed as reformers.
And, very clearly, anyone sitting in Khartoum or indeed Darfur today will tell you that these are not reformers, and they are very self-interested parties who want absolute power.
And they should be treated as such in any future mediation.
GEOFF BENNETT: On that point, is there any resolution in sight?
KHOLOOD KHAIR: Judging by the language of both of these generals over the past few days -- and we have to remember we're only on day three of this conflict, although I can tell you it feels like a lot longer.
The language from both of them doesn't suggest that either one of them will give in voluntarily or that they will voluntarily seek a cease-fire.
It seems like this is an existential conflict for both of these generals, and that they will want to see it through to the end.
Certainly, we're hearing of an uptick in activity by the Sudan armed forces, who have the advantage of an air force, which is why, I'm not sure if you can hear behind me, but there are sounds of bombardments, which we have been hearing pretty much all over the past 48 hours.
So I don't think that we're seeing even the zenith of this conflict yet, let alone its resolution collude.
GEOFF BENNETT: Kholood Khair, joining us tonight from Sudan's capital city, Khartoum, thank you for being with us.
KHOLOOD KHAIR: Thank you.