Airstrikes, anti-aircraft weapons and artillery could be heard early Saturday morning in Khartoum as the Sudan Crises continued. Black smoke billowed over parts of the city as fighting in Sudan entered its third week. Fights between the army and a rival paramilitary force continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday when strikes by air, tanks and artillery rocked Khartoum and the adjacent cities of Bahri and Ombdurman.
Riots erupted on 15 April, in a power struggle between the military and the militia’s Rapid Support Force (RSF). This thwarted the transition to internationally supported democratic elections. Hundreds died while tens of thousands fled for their lives.
The crisis has also rekindled a two-decade-old conflict in western Darfur of Sudan, with dozens dead this week. The army has been deploying jets or drones on RSF forces in neighbourhoods across the capital.
Many residents are pinned down by urban warfare with scant food, fuel, water and power.
At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 wounded, according to the United Nations. However, many believe the real toll of the Sudan crisis is much higher.
More than 75,000 people were internally displaced within Sudan just in the first week of the fighting, according to the United Nations. Only 16 per cent of hospitals were operating as normal in the capital.
The latest ceasefire, brokered by foreign powers, is supposed to last until Sunday at midnight. The RSF accused the army of violating it with air strikes on its bases in Omdurman. The city is Khartoum’s sister city at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers, and Mount Awliya.
The army blamed the RSF for violations. The violence has sent tens of thousands of refugees across Sudan’s borders and threatens to stir instability across a volatile swathe of Africa between the Sahel and the Red Sea.
Foreign governments have evacuated diplomats and citizens to safety over the past week, including with airlifts.
Britain said its evacuations would end on Saturday as demand for spots on planes had declined. The U.S. said several hundred Americans had departed Sudan by land, sea or air.
A convoy of buses carrying 300 Americans left Khartoum late on Friday on a 525-mile (850-km) trip to the Red Sea in the first U.S.-organised evacuation effort for citizens, the New York Times reported.
In Darfur, at least 96 people had died since Monday in inter-communal violence rekindled by the army-RSF conflict, UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
cc: Vanguard Ng