Cairo: Sudan’s warring military groups agreed to another ceasefire, which is the latest in a series that hasn’t stopped the fighting. On Saturday, civilians killed in air strikes that hit several parts of the capital city, CAIRO.
Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is now in its third month, and neither side has a clear edge.
The war has forced 2.2 million Sudanese to leave their homes and has made the war-torn Darfur area a “humanitarian calamity,” according to the United Nations. Sudan’s health minister said that it has killed more than 3,000 people and hurt more than 6,000.
Late Saturday night, the US and Saudi Arabia said that the two sides had agreed to a new 72-hour truce that would start early Sunday morning. Even though there have been truces before, the killing has not stopped completely.
In Khartoum and the nearby towns of Omdurman and Bahri, the army has the upper hand because it has planes. The RSF, on the other hand, has hidden itself in residential areas. On Friday and Saturday, it looked like the army increased its air strikes, which hit several areas with homes.
Moreover, In a speech posted by the army on Friday, top general Yassir Al-Atta told people to stay away from houses that the RSF had taken over. “Because at this point, we’ll attack them anywhere,” he said to cheers. “There are bullets between us and these rebels,” he said, sounding like he didn’t want to talk about it.
Local activists told the Khartoum health ministry on Saturday that 17 people, including five children, had died in the Mayo neighbourhood in southern Khartoum and that 25 homes had been destroyed. The Khartoum health ministry confirmed this on Sunday.
Air strikes
Late Friday night, the local resistance group said that 13 people had been killed by shelling in al-Lammab, which is in the western part of Khartoum. They called the area a “operations zone.” People in the south and west of Khartoum said they heard air strikes in the afternoon.
On Saturday, the RSF said it shot down a military plane in the Nile, west of Khartoum.
A local told Reuters that a film showed smoke rising near fuel depots in the southern part of Khartoum.
Friday and Saturday, air strikes in central and southern Omdurman went on, damaging homes and killing one person, according to the Beit al-Mal neighbourhood group.
Residents said that an air strike on Friday killed three family members in the Sharq el-Nil neighbourhood.
More than 270,000 people from West Darfur’s El-Geneina crossed the border into Chad after more than 1,000 people killed in attacks that residents and the US say were carried out by the RSF and allied groups.
Reports that Chadian troops had fought with the RSF were not true, according to a source in the Chadian military and a local official in Adre, Chad, where many of the refugees are staying.
The presidency said that Chad President General Mahamat Idriss Deby went to the area to see the humanitarian situation and make sure the border was closed.
Millions of people still live in Khartoum, but the war has cut off their access to power, water, and health care, and they have had to ration food. They say that there was a lot of theft.
