Conflict in Sudan continues as UN warns of humanitarian crisis

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 May 2023 19:18

Violence and fighting continues across the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, hours after the two sides agreed to a short-term ceasefire starting Monday.

A man walks by a house hit in recent fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2023 (AP)

Violence and fighting continued raging across Sudan's capital, Khartoum, on Sunday, hours after the two conflicting parties for power in Sudan pledged a ceasefire for a week, starting Monday evening.

Residents of the capital said they heard increasingly violent "air strikes" that had "shook the walls of houses." In southern Khartoum, an eyewitness also spoke of "renewed clashes in the Sahafa area."

Ceasefire negotiated

Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had struck a seven-day ceasefire deal, earlier on Saturday.

The agreement, negotiated by Saudi Arabia and the United States, is set to take effect 48 hours later on Monday at 9:45 p.m. local time (1945 GMT).

According to the statement, the new deal would be implemented by a US-Saudi and international monitoring body.

It stated that future talks "will focus on additional steps necessary to improve security and humanitarian conditions for civilians such as vacating forces from urban centers, including civilian homes, accelerating removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian actors, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties."

Sudan's Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a coalition of political groups backing the democratic government in the nation, praised the truce agreement later on Saturday.

In a statement, the FFC expressed that it calls for "a full commitment to Jeddah 'Declaration of Principles' and to the short-term ceasefire agreement as well as humanitarian arrangements."

Dangerous humanitarian crisis

On Friday, the United Nations official for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, announced the allocation of $22 million from a United Nations emergency fund to help the Sudanese people who had fled to bordering nations.

Similarly, the United States also announced $103 million in aid to Sudan and neighboring countries to face the humanitarian crisis.

Only one month in, around 1,000 people have been killed, mainly in and around Khartoum, as well as in the long-troubled western region of Darfur.

The UN highlighted, earlier on Wednesday, that half of Sudan's population needs humanitarian aid and that more than $3 billion will be needed this year alone to provide urgent assistance inside the country and to those fleeing across its borders.

Fighting has been condensed in Khartoum but other areas, most notably the western Darfur region bordering Chad, have also seen heavy fighting.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, on Thursday, called on the international community to exert all possible pressure on the fighting sides in Sudan to resolve the conflict and end "the wanton violence."