Air strikes and artillery pounded Khartoum yesterday after Sudan’s warring army and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary failed to agree to a ceasefire despite committing to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access.
A so-called declaration of principles was signed in Saudi Arabia late on Thursday after nearly a week of talks between the two factions, which had shared power before falling out over a transition to civilian rule.
RSF adviser Moussa Khadam told Sky News Arabia the group would abide by the principles agreed to and aimed to reach a complete ceasefire. But there was no let-up in violence and the army has not commented on the agreement.
Since clashing suddenly on April 15, the rival military factions have shown little sign they are ready to end deadly fighting that has uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and could pitch Sudan into a full-blown civil war.
The two forces issued competing statements yesterday that accused each other of harming civilians and ignoring the population’s humanitarian needs.
The conflict has paralysed Sudan’s economy and strangled its trade, aggravating a ballooning humanitarian crisis with the UN saying yesterday that 200,000 people have now fled into neighbouring states.
However, UN Sudan envoy Volker Perthes said he expected ceasefire talks to start again today and, while previous truces broke down because both sides thought they could win, neither now believes that victory would be quick.
His upbeat assessment contrasted with disappointment among many in the capital. “We were expecting that the agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and airstrikes,” said Mohamed Abdallah, 39, living in Khartoum. City residents said there was heavy fighting in parts of Khartoum and its adjoining sister city of Bahri.
In Darfur in the west, fighting between local militias that killed 450 people last month flared again in the city of Geneina as one group attacked another, rattling neighbourhoods with gunfire and artillery after two weeks of comparative calm.
In other parts of Darfur, where a war has simmered since 2003 killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million, locally arranged ceasefires between the army and RSF appeared to hold.
Thursday’s deal, the product of Saudi and US-brokered talks in Jeddah, includes commitments to allow safe passage for civilians, medics and humanitarian relief, and to minimise harm to civilians and public facilities.
US officials said negotiations for a ceasefire would follow and Saudi Arabia called the agreement “a first step”. Mediators had pushed for the warring factions to reach a limited initial agreement as tension between them put a wider ceasefire out of reach for now, one told Reuters.
However, a senior US State Department official said the two sides “are quite far apart” and the official did not expect them to fully comply with the agreement.
The rival forces agreed to quit private homes and other property, but a family in Bahri said RSF fighters had tried to take over their house on yesterday morning.
Khartoum residents have frequently accused the paramilitary of taking over houses and hospitals as part of a tactic to embed in districts throughout the city as it fights an army that can call on air power.
The RSF has denied the claim, accusing the army and other armed groups of invading property.
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