Army and paramilitaries resume fighting in Sudan after truce expires

2023-06-11 10:46:28

the army of Sudan and paramilitary groups have resumed fighting this Sunday after the 24-hour truce expired, orchestrated under the mediation of Saudi Arabia. The sound of artillery fire and fighting woke up the inhabitants of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, several witnesses told AFP. The war has caused more than 1.800 muertosaccording to the organization ACLED, which specializes in collecting information in conflict zones, and the UN estimates that there are two million displaced people.

Clashes resumed ten minutes after a 24-hour truce brokered by Saudi Arabia expired, which began at 6 a.m. local time on Saturday. According to Reuters, the fighting began north of Omdurman, one of the three adjacent cities, along with Khartoum and Bahri, that make up the capital near the confluence of the Nile River. Witnesses also reported explosions and clashes in Khartoum and fire from artillery in the Sharq el-Nil area on the eastern outskirts of the capital, and around a bridge connecting Omdurman and Bahri.

The ceasefire, which was globally respected according to witnesses, allowed the inhabitants of Khartoum to get supplies or flee the capital, which has been plunged into an armed conflict for almost two months that has caused a serious humanitarian crisis.

The conflict broke out on April 15 between the army, led by General Abdul Fatah al Burhanand the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. The fighting has so far been concentrated in the capital, much of which has been turned into a war zone riddled with looting and fighting.

The war threatens to spill over the political borders of Sudan and it is that in recent days residents and activists have reported an escalation of the conflict in El Geneina, near the border with Chad, due to new waves of attacks by Arab nomadic tribes with ties to the FAR. The city has been largely incommunicado, without access to telephone networks for several weeks.

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Due to such escalation, Egypt has tightened entry rules since last Saturday by extending the entry visa requirement for men aged 16 to 50 to all Sudanese citizens.

Before this new conflict, Sudan was already one of the poorest countries in the world. Now, after several weeks of war, 25 of the 45 million Sudanese can no longer survive without humanitarian aid, the UN said.