Fighting continues in Sudan despite pressure to renew ceasefire
Khartoum, Jun 4 (EFE).- Fighting continued unbated in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Sunday, despite international mediators calling on warring parties to negotiate a new ceasefire in their ongoing power struggle.
Khartoum residents told Efe that the Sudanese armed forces carried out airstrikes and artillery bombing against positions belonging to the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the northern part of the capital, to which the latter responded with anti-aircraft weapons.
Gunfire has also been heard, as helicopters hovered in the south of the capital’s neighboring city of Omdurman.
So far, no victims have been reported from the day’s fighting.
The RSF, meanwhile, claimed it had shot down a military plane but the army denied the claim and said that the aircraft fell due to a technical failure and that those on board were evacuated safely.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Dosa, the spokesperson of the Sudanese Red Crescent in North Darfur, told Efe at least 25 people died when the RSF launched attacks in the region’s Kutum town and clashed with army soldiers on Saturday.
“About 25 people were killed, according to an initial count, and more than 30 were injured in the clashes,” Dosa said, adding that the victims included displaced people in a nearby camp.
Key mediators Saudi Arabia and the United States have been urging both factions to resume dialogue in the Saudi city of Jeddah and agree on a new truce after a fragile ceasefire came to an end on Saturday.
The army, led by President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF led by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, have traded accusations of violating numerous ceasefires and targeting civilian facilities, including hospitals and residential buildings in the capital, since the start of clashes on April 15.
The fighting in Sudan has taken its toll on the healthcare system, leaving it on the brink of collapse with at least 850 people dead and over 5,500 others injured in the conflict.
Some 1.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes amid the fighting, according to the United Nations. EFE
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