Warring Sudanese factions fight on after failing to agree on truce
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Smoke rising above buildings in Khartoum, amid continual fighting, on May 12.
PHOTO: AFP
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KHARTOUM – Air strikes and artillery pounded Khartoum on Friday after Sudan’s warring army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary failed to agree on a ceasefire despite committing to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access.
A so-called declaration of principles was signed in Saudi Arabia
Since clashing suddenly on April 15,
The conflict has paralysed Sudan’s economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis,
However, UN Sudan envoy Volker Perthes said he expected ceasefire talks to start again on Friday or Saturday and that while previous truces broke down because both sides thought they could win, neither now believes that victory would be quick.
His upbeat assessment contrasted with the disappointment of many people in the capital.
“We were expecting that the agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and air strikes,” said Mr Mohamed Abdallah, 39, who lives in Khartoum, as blasts were also heard in neighbouring Bahri.
In Darfur in the west, fighting between local militia and rebels suddenly flared again in the city of Geneina, with gunfire rattling neighbourhoods after two weeks of comparative calm and artillery hammering the city for the first time.
In other parts of Darfur, where a war has simmered since 2003, killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million, locally arranged ceasefires between the army and the RSF appeared to hold.
Humanitarian deal
Thursday’s deal, the product of Saudi and United States-brokered talks in Jeddah, includes commitments to allow safe passage for civilians, medics and humanitarian relief, and to minimise harm to civilians and public facilities.
US officials said negotiations for a ceasefire would follow and Saudi Arabia called the agreement “a first step”. Mediators had pushed for the limited agreement to reduce tension over the wider ceasefire, one told Reuters.
However, a senior US State Department official said the two sides “are quite far apart” and added that he did not expect them to fully comply with the agreement.
The two sides agreed to evacuate private homes and other property, but a family in Bahri said RSF fighters had tried to take over their house on Friday morning.
Khartoum residents have frequently accused paramilitary forces of taking over houses and hospitals as part of a tactic to embed themselves in districts throughout the city as they fight an army that can call on air power.
The RSF has denied the claim, accusing the army and other armed groups of invading property.
“The parties must convey clear and unequivocal instructions to lower ranks” to enforce Thursday’s agreement, said the UN, African Union and regional organisation IGAD.
However, Mr Cameron Hudson of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said he doubted the RSF had enough control over its fighters to do so.
Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.
Killed and displaced
Many UN and other aid agencies have suspended aid to Sudan and in particular Khartoum, awaiting guarantees that their stores and staff will be safe.
The World Health Organisation has said at least 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting, but that real numbers are likely much higher.
The Health Ministry reckons at least 450 people were killed in April in West Darfur state alone.
More than 700,000 Sudanese have been internally displaced, according to the UN. REUTERS
