Fighting between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces continues despite the announced extension of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, a senior United Nations official arrived in the country for talks on providing relief to millions of trapped civilians.
The visit by senior UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths on Wednesday, May 3 comes a day after neighboring South Sudan announced that the warring sides had agreed “in principle” to a seven-day ceasefire.
On 15 April, Sudan’s de facto leader Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, commanding the regular army, and Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, his deputy-turned-rival, commanding the Rapid Support Forces, Metti) erupted in deadly violence.
At least 550 people were killed and 4,926 injured, according to the latest figures from the health ministry on Wednesday, and those figures may be incomplete.
Hospitals were attacked, humanitarian facilities looted and foreign aid groups were forced to suspend most operations. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries, prompting warnings of a humanitarian “catastrophe” affecting the entire region.
Al Jazeera’s Sheba Morgan reported from Khartoum that fierce fighting continued throughout the morning, with witnesses reporting a powerful explosion near the presidential palace and smoke rising from the capital area.
Morgan pointed out, “It seems that the Sudanese army is trying to regain control of the presidential palace. The two sides have been fighting near it. Fighters have been dispatched, not only near the presidential palace, but also in other places in Khartoum.”
Clashes were also reported near the headquarters of the state broadcaster in the capital city of Omdurman, while explosions and anti-aircraft fire were also heard in the city of Bahri, north of Khartoum.
During the period, Griffith arrived in Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast on an urgent mission to find a way to provide relief to the millions of Sudanese who could not flee.
“We still need to come up with agreements and arrangements to allow the movement of staff and supplies,” he told reporters via video link from Port Sudan.
“We need an agreement at the highest level and in public, and we need to put those commitments into local arrangements that we can rely on.”
Aid deliveries have been hampered in Sudan, where about a third of the population is already dependent on humanitarian aid. Moreover, a wider catastrophe may be brewing as refugees from Sudan make their way into its impoverished neighbor.
On Tuesday, South Sudan’s foreign ministry announced that Burhan and Dagalo “agreed in principle to a seven-day truce from May 4 to 11.”
On Wednesday, Burhan’s representative, Dafallah Alhaj, said the army had only accepted a truce, not mediation, noting that an army delegation would not meet face-to-face with the Rapid Support Forces.
Burhan and Hemeti have agreed to several truces since the fighting began, but none have been effectively implemented. The current agreement was extended for another 72 hours on Sunday and will expire at midnight or 22:00 GMT on Wednesday 3rd.
The warring sides have drawn growing international criticism for their failure to keep promises to try to end nearly three weeks of fighting.
“The two generals accepted the ceasefire but at the same time continued to fight and bombard the city,” complained Ismail Wais of the Intergovernmental Organization for Development in East Africa (IGAD).
The ongoing fighting “complicates the political, security and humanitarian situation on the ground and makes it more difficult to resolve,” he said.
The UN’s Griffiths also called for the protection of civilians and aid workers.
“Ensure safe passage for civilians fleeing hostile areas. Respect humanitarian workers and assets,” he tweeted.
Griffiths noted that the WFP told him that six WFP trucks en route to Darfur were robbed despite security.
The World Food Program had no immediate comment.
“It’s a volatile environment, so we need those commitments,” Griffiths said.
“It’s not like we’re asking for the moon. We’re asking for humanitarian deliveries and people. We’re doing that in every other country, even without a ceasefire. It’s a traditional humanitarian cause of going where others aren’t going.”
Violence has also swept through Darfur, where at least 99 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Sudanese doctors’ union.
According to the International Organization for Migration, about 70 percent of the more than 330,000 people displaced inside Sudan are reported to be from West and South Darfur.
Darfur is still scarred by the war that erupted in 2003, when then-ruler Omar al-Bashir launched so-called Janjaweed militias, largely recruited from Arab nomadic tribes, to fight ethnic insurgents .
The Janjaweed and their actions led to war crimes charges against Bashir and others, and the group has since morphed into the Rapid Support Forces.
