In Sudan, the 72-hour truce signed last weekend between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expired on Wednesday morning. This new truce, mainly intended to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, was agreed under the aegis of Saudi Arabia and the United States last weekend. Immediately, heavy fighting resumed in the Sudanese capital.
After the truce, fighting resumed at 6 a.m. on Wednesday in the three cities that make up greater Khartoum. An army fighter-bomber carried out strikes on Bahri in the north, according to residents quoted by Reuters. Strikes were responded to by anti-aircraft gunfire. Artillery went into action in Omdurman, also north of the capital, as well as in downtown Khartoum, in the area adjacent to the international airport, according to the local Resistance Committee. And ground fighting was reported in the south of the city, where there is a large military camp. Clashes have finally been reported by residents in South Kordofan state, where the pipelines carrying oil from South Sudan are located.
Columns of civilians targeted by militiamen
The ceasefire had experienced numerous violations of which the two belligerents mutually accused each other. Thousands of Sudanese have nevertheless managed to move away from the combat zone, in very dangerous conditions. Refugees who had just arrived in Chad, for example, said that militiamen opened fire on columns of civilians linking El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, and Adré, on the other side of the Chadian border.