People gather to get bread during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan (Image: Reuters)
The so-called ‘truce’ in Sudan brought into effect by international actors appeared flimsy as fighting continued intermittently in capital Khartoum and other cities.
Sudan witnessed intermittent fighting on Tuesday, hours after a truce, brokered by international players, was supposed to have come into effect. Forces loyal to armed forces chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, accused one another for violating the cease-fire and fought for key locations across the capital.
Top diplomats from several nations made intense efforts to ensure that Africa’s third largest country does not slip into another civil war and push its 46 million residents into further poverty.
Here are the latest developments from Khartoum:
- Residents in Khartoum said they heard sounds of gunfire and explosions in different parts of the capital, particularly around the military’s headquarters and the Republican Palace. A report by the Associated Press said only a few people ventured out and small crowds were seen outside some bakeries.
- The armistice comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called both generals and underscored the need for a truce. He also spoke to Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia foreign minister, and discussed ways to “stop military escalation, ending violence, and calming tensions”, a report by AFP said.
- Sudan witnessed more than a dozen coups and coup attempts since it gained independence in 1958, news agency Al-Jazeera pointed out in a report.
- The Al-Jazeera report also pointed out that Dagalo and Burhan acted as powerful enablers of former prime minister Omar al-Bashir’s dictatorship before standing up against him and even conspired to dismantle the civilian movement demanding his ouster in 2019.
- The report also says that they forced former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok, in 2022, who led the first transitional government and set up another transitional Framework Agreement under international pressure but only to preserve power for themselves.
- The UN said that at least 185 people were killed and more than 1,800 were injured. A report by the AFP said at least 200 people died and the true number of both wounded and dead is thought to be far higher. Many wounded were unable to reach hospitals as those were being shelled, the AFP said, citing the nation’s official doctors’ union.
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