KHARTOUM: Rival forces in Sudan on Sunday announced the extension of a ceasefire they have largely violated, as warplanes roared overhead and fighting continued on the ground in Khartoum. Deadly hostilities between the country’s Army and RSF in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan have entered a third week.
The latest widely-breached truce was scheduled to formally expire at midnight before the two sides announced an extension for 72 hours that the Sudanese army said came due to ” Saudi and US mediation”.
Sudan ‘Ceasefire’ Extended
Over 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands forced to leave their homes and areas for safer locations within Sudan or abroad since fighting erupted on April 15. The fighting pits the personnel of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.
AFP reported continued clashes as well as fighter jets soaring above in various areas of Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman. The civil aviation authority on Sunday also announced Sudan’s airspace would remain closed until May 13, with the exception of evacuation and aid flights. “There has been heavy fighting and gunfire,” a Khartoum resident told AFP in the day.
Further complicating the battleground, Central Reserve Police were also being deployed across Sudan’s capital to “protect properties of citizens” from looting, the Sudanese police said.
Police said It had arrested over 316 “rebels”, a reference to the country’s RSF, which did not confirm the news and had previously warned police against joining the current fight in the country. But millions of people in Sudan are still trapped in the African country, where aid workers are also among the dead, the UN said humanitarian facilities have also been looted, and it has been forced to essentially stop all aid operations.
According to AFP, a first Red Cross plane brought 8 tonnes of humanitarian aid from Jordan to Sudan. The aid included medical kits to stabilize 1,500 patients in the war hit country.
Earlier Sudan’s former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok warned against the conflict’s deteriorating into one of the world’s worst wars.
