Sudan Conflict: Air Strikes Continue Even As Warring Factions Agree To Extend 72-Hour Ceasefire

Sudan Conflict: Even with a partial pause in fighting, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire could be heard in capital Khartoum. The White House stated that the situation could worsen at any moment.

Sudan’s two warring factions on Thursday said that they would prolong a ceasefire agreement by 72 hours, however, violence rocked the capital Khartoum again and the western region of Darfur with the U.S. calling ceasefire violations worrying. The conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to hundreds dying while tens of thousands of people fled for their lives in two weeks of conflict.

Together, the factions toppled a civilian government in an October 2021 coup and are now locked in a power struggle that derailed an internationally backed transition to democracy. The conflict threatens to destabilise the fragile region.

According to news agency Reuters, the Sudanese Army on Wednesday said that it agreed to a new three-day ceasefire through Sunday after one that was to expire on Thursday night. On Thursday, the military maintained that it would extend the truce and said it would honour it unilaterally.

Responding for the first time, the RSF also said on Thursday that it approved another 72-hour truce starting Friday. The United Nations, African Union, African trade bloc IGAD  and several nations welcomed the development including countries like the U.S., U.K., Saudi Arabia, and UAE.

Even with a partial pause in fighting because of the first 72-hour ceasefire, air strikes and anti-aircraft fire could be heard on Thursday in the capital and the nearby cities of Omdurman and Bahri, Reuters cited witnesses and its journalists as informing.

The Sudanese army claims to control most of the country’s regions. It said it is defeating a large RSF deployment in Khartoum where some residential areas have become war zones.

The White House stated that it was deeply concerned by the ceasefire violations. According to the US, the situation could worsen at any moment and urged U.S. citizens to leave within 24 to 48 hours.

El Geneina, Sudan’s western-most city, is seeing the conflict expand as nomadic tribes join the fight. The city has seen repeated tribal conflicts in recent years, leading to people being pushed out of their homes.

As per Reuters’s report, militiamen from nomadic Arab tribes entered El Geneina as the fighting between the RSF and the army created a security vacuum. They were met with armed members of the Masalit tribe, with clashes extending across the city, leading to a new wave of displacement.

Sudan Crisis: Thousands Of Sudanese Civilians Flee, 60 Hospitals Stopped Operations

Sudanese civilians struggling to find food, water, and fuel, are fleeing Khartoum. As per the report, 16,000 people have entered Egypt from Sudan including 14,000 Sudanese citizens, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said. The U.N. stated that some 20,000 refugees have gone to Chad.

The top U.N. aid official in Sudan, Abdou Dieng, told Reuters: “Very little can be done” in terms of humanitarian assistance.

“We’re extremely worried about food supply,” he added.

According to the Sudan Doctors’ Union, 60 of 86 hospitals in conflict zones had stopped operating.

Thousands of students are housed at the International University of Africa in Khartoum where food is running out. There is no water for toilets and showers and the power has gone, Nigerian law student Umar Yusuf Yaru, 24, said, as per Reuters.

The conflict has killed at least 512 people and left nearly 4,200 wounded since April 15.