Fighting rages in Sudan's capital as truce deadline nears

Gunfire and explosions rocked Sudan's capital Monday in the leadup to a one-week humanitarian ceasefire after a series of previous truce announcements were all violated by warring generals.

The United States and Saudi Arabia on Sunday said the ceasefire agreed between the rivals would take effect at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) Monday to enable humanitarian assistance to civilians.

"Fighter jets are bombing our neighbourhood," Khartoum resident Mahmoud Salah el-Din told AFP.

Unlike truces previously announced, the US and Saudi said this one is different because it was "signed by the parties" and will be supported by a "ceasefire monitoring mechanism".

Battles began on April 15 between the army, led by Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

According to the seven-page agreement released by the US, warring sides were to use the two days before it takes effect Monday night to "inform their respective forces" about it and "instruct them to comply."

But for the 37th consecutive day, residents of the capital reported hearing air strikes and anti-aircraft fire.

"Fighting and troop movements have continued even today, despite a commitment by both sides not to pursue military advantage before the ceasefire takes effect," Volker Perthes, the UN's envoy to Sudan, told the United Nations Security Council.

While government forces control the skies they have few men on the ground in the centre of Khartoum, where RSF are on the streets.

"We have seen no sign that the Rapid Support Forces are preparing to withdraw from the streets," said Salah el-Din, the Khartoum resident.

Around 1,000 people have been killed in five weeks of violence that have plunged the already poverty-stricken country deeper into humanitarian crisis. 

More than one million have been uprooted, including in excess of 250,000 who have fled across Sudan's borders, fuelling concerns for regional stability.

'We are all hungry' 

Hours before the truce was to start, Daglo released a voice message on social media addressing reported violations by his forces -- including rampant looting, targeting civilians and attacks on churches -- all of which he blamed on "coup plotters" in the army.

To his fighters, he said "it is either victory or martyrdom, and victory will be ours".

At the Security Council, Sudan's representative, loyal to Burhan, blamed the RSF for similar violations.

Despite the previous breached truces, civilians clung to hope that the approaching ceasefire would hold, allowing desperately needed aid to bolster dwindling supplies of food, medicine and other essentials.

"We are all hungry, the children, the elderly, everyone is suffering from this war. We have no more water," Khartoum resident Souad al-Fateh told AFP, pleading for both sides to "find an agreement".

More than half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid, the UN said.

For Khaled Saleh, in the capital's twin city of Omdurman, the latest truce pledges could be a lifeline.

"With a ceasefire, running water can be restored and I will finally be able to see a doctor because I am supposed to see one regularly for my diabetes and high blood pressure," he told AFP.

Medics have repeatedly said the health care system is on the verge of collapse in Khartoum and elsewhere, particularly the western region of Darfur.

Doubts 

The UN has reported hundreds of civilians killed in the West Darfur capital El Geneina, and in his Security Council address Perthes warned "the growing ethnicisation of the conflict risks to expand and prolong it with implications for the region."

Intense fighting in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, killed 28 people last week, according to the doctors' union.

Othman al-Zein, a shop owner in Nyala market which has been repeatedly attacked and looted, told AFP that "if the truce holds" he will leave the city. 

"Although I doubt it will be implemented across Sudan," he said.

The agreement to take effect Monday night includes as "an integral part" an earlier pact, signed by the warring parties on May 12 in Jeddah, to respect humanitarian principles and allow in badly needed aid.

But the May 12 deal was already violated with attacks on humanitarian premises and health facilities, according to the UN.

Burhan and Daglo in October 2021 jointly staged a coup that derailed a fragile transition to civilian rule put in place after the 2019 overthrow of former autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

They later fell out in a power struggle, including over the integration of the RSF into the regular army.

Burhan on Friday officially sacked Daglo and named former rebel leader Malik Agar as a vice-president.

On social media, Agar on Monday said he met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir in Juba, where he set priorities to work towards "a permanent ceasefire and then stop the war at its roots", in addition to facilitating humanitarian aid.

Andrew Mitchell, a minister of state in the UK Foreign Office, told AFP in Geneva it is "absolutely essential that we get a ceasefire that is effective and enduring, and we get back onto the political track."