Heavy fighting continues in the Sudanese capital even after the Sudanese army has declared a ceasefire, residents told Al Jazeera.
The army said Friday night it agreed to a three-day truce to allow people to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Its opponent, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), said earlier in the day it had agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire, also marking Eid.
“The armed forces hope that the rebels will abide by all demands of the ceasefire and stop all military actions that would impede the ceasefire,” the army statement said.
The army’s announcement followed another day of hostilities in Khartoum and the first deployment of the army on foot in the capital since fighting began last Saturday.
RSF soldiers and gunmen fired at each other in neighborhoods across the city, including during the call for special early morning Eid prayers.
‘Residents have little hope for a ceasefire’
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from Khartoum, said residents around the capital reported continued artillery attacks.
“Residents say there is fierce fighting and direct confrontations between the army and the RSF in the southern part of the capital,” she said.
Morgan said that despite a fifth ceasefire attempt, residents in several parts of the country say clashes continue and they believe the ceasefire will not last.
All day the gunfire crackled without a break, punctuated by the roar of artillery and air strikes. Drone footage showed plumes of smoke over Khartoum and the Nile twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri, together one of Africa’s largest metropolitan areas.
The fighting has left hundreds dead, mainly in Khartoum and western Sudan, plunging the continent’s third-largest country — where about a quarter of its people already depended on food aid — into a humanitarian disaster.
With the airport embroiled in fighting and the air unsafe, countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Spain have been unable to evacuate embassy staff.
In Washington DC, the US State Department said without further ado that a US citizen had been killed in Sudan. The White House said no decision had yet been made to evacuate U.S. diplomatic personnel, but it was preparing for such a possibility should the need arise.
At least five aid workers have been killed, including three from the World Food Program, which has since suspended its operation in Sudan, one of the world’s largest food aid missions.
An International Organization for Migration (IOM) employee was killed in the city of El-Obeid on Friday after his vehicle was hit by crossfire as he tried to get his family to safety.
IOM’s Paul Dillon said the personnel were killed as fighting between Sudan’s warring factions intensified in El-Obeid.
“Our staff member, his wife and their newborn child got into a private vehicle and drove south to move to a safer place,” Dillon told Al Jazeera from Geneva.
“About 50 km outside El-Obeid, they found themselves in a crossfire between two factions,” he said.
“Our member of staff was seriously injured, but he managed to drive the car a little way to a health clinic. Sadly, he died of his injuries,” added Dillon.
Humanitarian issues
The fighting is making it more difficult for people to leave their homes and join the masses leaving Khartoum.
Mohamed Saber Turaby, 27, a resident of Khartoum, wanted to visit his parents 80 km from the city for Eid.
“Every time I try to leave the house, there are clashes,” he told Reuters news agency. “Last night there was shelling and now there is presence of army troops on the ground.”
Army troops brandishing semi-automatic weapons were met with cheers in one street, according to a video released by the military on Friday.
Reuters verified the location of the video, in the north of the city, but could not verify when it was filmed.
The World Health Organization said at least 413 people were killed and thousands injured, hospitals attacked and up to 20,000 people fled to neighboring Chad.
“More and more people are without food, water and electricity, including in Khartoum,” the UN agency for humanitarian aid said.
Sudan borders seven countries and lies between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Africa’s volatile Sahel region. The hostilities threaten to fuel regional tensions.
The violence was sparked by disagreements over an internationally backed plan to form a new civilian government, four years after the fall of former leader Omar al-Bashir amid mass protests and two years after a military coup.
Both sides accuse each other of thwarting the transition.
The two sides also fight in the western Darfur region, where a partial peace deal was signed in 2020 in a long-running conflict that led to allegations of war crimes against al-Bashir.