No let-up in Khartoum fighting after Sudan’s army declares truce

Plumes of smoke rises over the city of Omdurman, as conflict between the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army continues, in Omdurman, Sudan April 21, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a video by Reuters.

KHARTOUM – Heavy firing rang out in Khartoum on Friday after Sudan’s army declared a truce, a Reuters witness said, dealing the latest blow to international attempts to try to end almost a week of fighting between army troops and a rival force.

The source of firing was unclear, the witness said, adding air strikes were also heard from time to time.

The army said it agreed to a three-day truce to enable people to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Its adversary, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said earlier in the day it had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire, also to mark Eid.

“The armed forces hope that the rebels will abide by all the requirements of the truce and stop any military moves that would obstruct it,” an army statement said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the combatants to abide by the truce, and said Sudan’s military and civilian leadership must urgently start negotiations on a sustainable ceasefire to prevent further damage to the country.

The army’s evening announcement followed another day of hostilities in Khartoum and the army’s first deployment on foot in the city since the fighting began on Saturday.

Soldiers and gunmen from the RSF shot at each other all day in neighbourhoods across the city, including during the call for special early morning Eid prayers, with gunfire punctuated by the thud of artillery and air strikes.

Drone footage showed several plumes of smoke across Khartoum and its Nile sister cities, together one of Africa’s biggest urban areas.

The fighting has killed hundreds, mainly in the capital and the west of Sudan, tipping the continent’s third-largest country – where about a quarter of people already relied on food aid – into a humanitarian disaster.

EVACUATIONS STYMIED

With the airport caught in the fighting and the skies unsafe, nations including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Spain have been unable to evacuate embassy staff.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said without elaborating that one U.S. citizen in Sudan had been killed.

U.S. citizens in Sudan should have no expectation of a U.S.-government coordinated evacuation, deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, adding that citizens there should make their own arrangements to stay safe.

The White House said no decision yet had been made to evacuate American diplomatic personnel but the U.S. was preparing for such an eventuality if it became necessary.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States was sending a large number of additional troops to its base in Djibouti in case of an eventual evacuation from Sudan.

At least five aid workers have been killed, including three from the World Food Programme, which has since suspended its Sudan operation – one of the world’s largest food aid missions.

A worker at the International Organization for Migration was killed in the city of El Obeid on Friday, after his vehicle was hit by crossfire as he tried to move his family to safety.

The army has pressed forward, fighting the RSF on the ground after having previously stuck largely to air raids and artillery shelling across the capital since the power struggle erupted.

In a statement, the army said it had begun “the gradual cleaning of hotbeds of rebel groups around the capital”.

RUNNING OUT OF FOOD AND WATER

The fighting is making it more difficult for people to leave their homes and join the droves departing Khartoum.

Khartoum resident Mohamed Saber Turaby, 27, had wanted to visit his parents 80 km (50 miles) from the city for Eid.

“Every time I try to leave the house, there are clashes,” he said. “There was shelling last night and now there is presence of army forces on the ground.”

Army troops brandishing semi-automatic weapons were greeted by cheers on one street, a video released by the military on Friday showed. Reuters verified the location of the video, in the north of the city, but could not verify when it was filmed.

Fighting extended down Medani Street, the main highway leading from Khartoum to Al Gezira state being used by those fleeing, as the RSF appeared to withdraw towards rural villages on the outskirts of Khartoum, witnesses told Reuters.

The World Health Organization said at least 413 people have been killed and thousands injured, with hospitals under attack and up to 20,000 people fleeing to neighbouring Chad.

“An increasing number of people are running out of food, water, and power, including in Khartoum,” the UN humanitarian office said.

Sudan borders seven countries and sits between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa’s volatile Sahel region. The hostilities risk fanning regional tensions.

The violence was triggered by disagreement over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government four years after the fall of autocrat Omar al-Bashir to mass protests, and two years after a military coup.

Both sides accuse the other of thwarting the transition.

The two sides are also fighting in Darfur region in the west, where a partial peace deal was signed in 2020 in a long conflict that led to war crimes charges against Bashir.

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