Northeast Africa: Conflict in Sudan: Fighting continues despite ceasefire

A ceasefire in Sudan that came into effect today has been broken again. According to eyewitness reports and the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, there were airstrikes and heavy shelling near the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday morning. Other eyewitnesses on Twitter reported artillery fire in the neighboring town of Omdurman.

The ceasefire agreed by both parties to the conflict was scheduled for May 4-11. However, there was little hope of an actual ceasefire. Since the fighting began a good three weeks ago, ceasefires of up to 72 hours have repeatedly been negotiated, but have repeatedly been broken.

once allies

In the country on the Horn of Africa, de facto President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is using the armed forces to wage a power struggle against his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two generals had once taken over the leadership in Sudan through joint military coups. However, questions about the distribution of power led to a rift between the two camps, which culminated in open fighting on April 15 and plunged the country with its around 46 million inhabitants into a crisis.

The RSF accused the military of breaking the new ceasefire. The army bombed RSF positions and residential areas, the paramilitary group said in a statement. The army said RSF fighters launched an attack on soldiers early Thursday morning. The claims of both sides could not be independently checked by the German Press Agency.

suffering of civilians

The UN Emergency Relief Office said it expects 860,000 refugees to leave Sudan. An additional US$445 million (around €400 million) in support would have to be made available for the new displaced persons.

Since the fighting began around three weeks ago, more than 12,000 people have fled Sudan to the Ethiopian border town of Metemma. As reported by the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), the organization now has more than a thousand new arrivals. In addition to the Sudanese and returning Ethiopians, citizens from more than 50 other nations also fled to neighboring Ethiopia.

According to its own statements, the IOM supports the refugees in transporting them from the border to the nearest city of Gondar and to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Many of those seeking protection, fleeing Sudan without belongings, would be accommodated in the local IOM transit centres.

HRW: “Inaccurate guns in populated urban areas”

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now denounced the use of heavy weapons in densely populated residential areas. “Sudan’s warring factions are showing a disregard for the lives of civilians by using inaccurate weapons in populated urban areas,” said Mohamed Osman, Sudan expert at HRW. The organization called on the UN Security Council to do more to ensure the security of the population and to hold those responsible for the conflict accountable.

According to HRW, eyewitnesses in Khartoum reported anti-aircraft weapons being set up and fired in the immediate vicinity of residential buildings. In addition, RSF soldiers are said to have entered surrounding houses and slept there. They also sought shelter from army bombing raids behind residential buildings. The houses have become targets.

Many civilians in Khartoum but also in other parts of the country have been forced to stay at home since the fighting broke out. In the sweltering heat, they had little water, electricity was scarce and there was no access to medical care, the report said. Temperatures in Khartoum are currently rising to over 40 degrees during the day.

Meanwhile, London said the evacuation mission from Sudan was finally over. The British Foreign Office said the last flight took off from Port Sudan last night. According to their own information, the British brought 2,450 people out of the country on 30 flights – mostly British citizens and their relatives. The Bundeswehr had already withdrawn from the embattled Sudan at the end of April.