Heavy fighting continued in Sudan on Friday, despite rival generals’ decision to extend a truce meant to stop nearly two weeks of conflict that has killed hundreds and caused enormous devastation.
Black clouds loomed above Khartoum amid new fighting, while the United Nations reported brutal urban combat in the war-torn Darfur region, where hundreds of people were killed.
Turkey’s defense ministry stated that one of its military transport planes had been shot down, emphasizing the dangers as other governments rush to complete evacuations of their citizens.
On April 15, violence erupted between Sudan’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy and fellow coup leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, with warplanes pounding RSF positions in densely packed Khartoum districts and fighters exchanging heavy machine gun fire.
After mediation spearheaded by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the African Union, and the United Nations, competing generals agreed Thursday to extend a regularly breached ceasefire for three more days.
However, witnesses told AFP that they heard air strikes and anti-aircraft guns being fired near the army command in Khartoum, where many residents have been forced to stay at home due to dangerously low food supplies.
Daglo denounced the army chief in an interview with the BBC, saying: “Burhan is not trustworthy and is a traitor. This war destroys Sudan.”
In an interview with US-based channel Al-Hurra, Burhan claimed “mercenaries” were pouring over the border from Chad, Central African Republic and Niger to exploit the chaos.
According to health ministry estimates, at least 512 people have been killed and 4,193 have been injured in the conflict.
The Sudanese doctors’ organization warned Friday that the healthcare system’s collapse was “imminent,” with more than 12,000 patients at risk of dying because they couldn’t get regular renal dialysis.
According to the UN humanitarian organization, only 16% of health facilities in Khartoum were still operational, leaving millions without access to health care.
