Fighting continues in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum despite rival factions’ agreement on Thursday to extend a ceasefire for 72 hours, raising concerns over intense violence in coming days.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on Thursday reiterated it would extend the truce and said it would honor it unilaterally.
In response to the army for the first time, the Rapid Support Force (RSF) said on Thursday it too approved another 72-hour truce starting Friday.
The United Nations, the African Union, African trade bloc IGAD and the so-called quad countries of the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and UAE, welcomed the development.
“We also welcome their readiness to engage in dialogue toward establishing a more durable cessation of hostilities and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access,” they said in a joint statement.
The SAF claimed it controls most of Sudan’s regions and is defeating a large RSF deployment in Khartoum, where some residential areas have turned into war zones.
Despite the truce, sounds of Sudanese fighter jets, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire were heard as they targeted paramilitary positions in Khartoum, according to witnesses.
Residents of Omdurman, Khartoum’s neighboring twin city, described “the worst day” yet as neighborhoods were pummeled by repeated airstrikes.
So far, at least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 wounded by the fighting since 15 April, according to the Sudanese health ministry.
According to experts, the situation in Sudan could worsen at any moment, with intense violence in the days to come.
A 72-hour truce was announced on Monday night, bringing relative calm brought to Khartoum and creating an opportunity for the peaceful evacuation of foreigners stuck within the war-torn country.
The doctors’ union in the country announced that at least eight civilians lost their lives in the conflicts on Wednesday despite the truce. It also said that more than two-thirds of hospitals in the country were out of service, including 14 that had been struck during the fighting.
The World Food Programme has warned that the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where one-third of the population, around 15 million people, are in need of aid.
Abdou Dieng, UN aid chief in Sudan, speaking from Port Sudan on Thursday, said he was “extremely worried about the situation”, with food supplies a huge concern.
The fighting has pitted the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the paramilitary RSF, which emerged from the militia that the Omar al-Bashir government unleashed in Darfur.
Burhan and Daglo seized full power in a 2021 coup, but have now fallen out and gone to war, hurtling Sudan into deeper turmoil.
The fighting, which has involved airstrikes and artillery exchanges. The deadly chaos has reduced some districts of greater Khartoum to ruins. There have been multiple truce efforts by various countries to end the fighting but to no avail.
