Heavy air strikes in Sudan as army agrees to extend truce

In the final hours of a repeatedly broken three-day ceasefire, due to end at midnight (2200 GMT), the army said it would extend the truce “for an additional 72 hours” following pressure by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

There have been multiple truce efforts since fighting broke out on April 15 between Sudan’s army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his deputy turned rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. All have failed.

The RSF has not responded to the latest proposal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ceasefire had been “imperfect”, but “nonetheless has reduced violence”.

“I hear intense shelling outside my home,” a Khartoum resident told AFP on Thursday evening, asking not to be named.

On Thursday, warplanes patrolled over the capital’s northern suburbs as fighters on the ground exchanged artillery and heavy machinegun fire, witnesses said.

At least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 wounded in the fighting, according to health ministry figures, although the real death toll is likely much higher.

Hospitals have been shelled and more than two thirds are out of service, the doctors’ union said Thursday, reporting at least eight civilians killed in Khartoum alone on Wednesday.

The World Food Programme has said the violence could plunge millions more into hunger in a country where 15 million people — one-third of the population — need 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.

– Violence beyond Khartoum –

Fighting has also flared in the provinces, particularly in the war-torn western region of Darfur.

Witnesses said clashes raged for a second day in the West Darfur capital El Geneina, with pro-democracy medics reporting a doctor shot dead.

“We are locked up at home and too afraid to go out, so we can’t assess the scale of the damage,” said a resident, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

The UN humanitarian agency said the fighting in West Darfur had disrupted food to “an estimated 50,000 acutely malnourished children”.

The violence has trapped many civilians in their homes, where they have endured severe food, water and electricity shortages.

Those who can afford to have taken the long and risky journey to flee the country.

Egypt said Thursday that at least 14,000 Sudanese refugees had crossed the border since fighting erupted, as well as 2,000 people from 50 other countries.

“End the war”, 50-year-old refugee Ashraf told the warring generals after entering Egypt. “This is your own conflict, not that of the Sudanese people.”

At least 20,000 people have escaped into Chad, 4,000 into South Sudan, 3,500 into Ethiopia and 3,000 into the Central African Republic, according to the UN, which has warned if fighting continues as many as 270,000 people could flee.

– War crimes suspect escapes –

Foreign governments have scrambled to get thousands of their citizens out, and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged Britons to leave while they can.

“Whilst the ceasefire is up and running, there are planes, there’s capacity, we will lift you out,” Cleverly said. “We are not able to make those same assurances once a ceasefire is ended.”

The latest Saudi evacuation ship docked in the Red Sea port of Jeddah Thursday to take the total evacuated by Riyadh to 2,744, only 119 of them Saudis, the foreign ministry said.

Canada said Thursday it had completed its first military flight carrying evacuees, with Defence Minister Anita Anand calling the situation “very volatile”.

As lawlessness has gripped Sudan, there have been several jailbreaks, including from the high security Kober prison where top aides of ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir were held.

Among the escapees is Ahmed Harun, wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Harun’s escape sparked fears of the involvement of Bashir loyalists in the ongoing fighting.

The army said 79-year-old Bashir was in a military hospital, and was moved before the fighting erupted.

Daglo’s RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia, accused of carrying out atrocities during Bashir’s brutal suppression of ethnic minority rebels in Darfur in the mid-2000s.

Bashir was toppled by the military in April 2019 following civilian mass protests that raised hopes for a transition to democracy.

The two generals seized power together in a 2021 coup, but later fell out, most recently over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army.

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Originally published as Heavy air strikes in Sudan as army agrees to extend truce