truce broken
Explosions and many deaths in Sudan
May 23, 2023, 3:19 p.m
Despite the ceasefire agreement, fighting has broken out again in Sudan: artillery fire and airstrikes have shaken the capital, Khartoum. Also in El Geneina there are said to be fights with many deaths. 25 million people need help – and the conflict could spread.
Fighting continues in Sudan despite a US-Saudi Arabia-brokered ceasefire. Explosions shook the capital Khartoum on Tuesday. A local resident said artillery fire could be heard. “Every few minutes there’s a detonation,” he added. Residents also reported fighting in northern Khartoum and airstrikes in the east of the capital, just minutes after the ceasefire went into effect Monday night. In some parts of the city, however, things remained quiet. The week-long ceasefire was due to come into effect at 9:45 p.m. Monday.
Since fighting broke out in the north-east African country in mid-April, several agreed ceasefires have not been observed. The fighting in Sudan between the army of military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary RSF militia of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo was sparked by the planned incorporation of the RSF into the army. Since then, almost a thousand people have been killed.
There are now more than a million refugees and displaced persons. The ceasefire had raised hopes among Khartoum residents that they would be able to access much-needed humanitarian aid and allow more people to flee the hard-fought city. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors announced the closure of another hospital on the outskirts of Khartoum. The staff had to stop work because, on the one hand, RSF fighters repeatedly attacked patients and staff and shot in the corridors. On the other hand, high-ranking army officials had “run a campaign of lies and rumors” against the doctors, it said.
25 million people dependent on humanitarian aid
There is a nationwide shortage of water, food and other basic necessities. According to UN figures, 25 million of the 45 million Sudanese are dependent on humanitarian aid because of the war. The Norwegian refugee aid organization NRC was frustrated by the ongoing fighting. “We have had over a month of broken promises and empty words while humanitarian workers are being killed as well as children,” NRC’s Karl Schembri wrote on Twitter. The United States and Saudi Arabia had stressed that the ceasefire they brokered differs from previous agreements because it was “signed by the parties” and supported by a “control mechanism.”
The western Sudanese region of Darfur was also riddled with fierce fighting. According to the UN, hundreds of civilians were killed in the town of El Geneina. The UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned the UN Security Council that the conflict would spread “with repercussions for the region”. In parts of the country, fighting between the two armies has exacerbated or triggered local tensions, Perthes said, citing reports that civilians in Darfur had been armed.