The struggle for supremacy in Sudan entered the second day of Eid as a temporary ceasefire between the warring forces of army chief Abdul Fattah al-Barhan and his rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) chief Muhammad Hamdan Daglu broke down shortly after.
The conflict has claimed 413 lives, injured thousands and left 1,000 others stranded in their homes without electricity, water or communications.
Heavy gunfire resumed on Saturday morning after heavy explosions throughout the night, JEE News reported.
Clashes began on April 15 between the Sudanese army loyal to Burhan and RSF paramilitary forces under the command of Deglu. Both sides have been blaming each other for the first attack.
The two parties were united before they rebelled against President Omar al-Bashir’s 2021 ouster that began in 1993.
In an announcement on Friday, the army said it had agreed to a three-day ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday – the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A day earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken also called for a ceasefire citing the end of the holy month.
Daglu said in a statement that he “discussed the current crisis” with Guterres and “focused on humanitarian ceasefires, safe passage and the safety of humanitarian workers”.
Earlier in the week, two calls for a 24-hour ceasefire were also ignored.
Both the RSF and the army are locked in an unwinnable power struggle and neither side seems to have the upper hand.
People stuck in homes
The warring parties have forced hundreds of thousands of people in the capital, Khartoum, to be confined to their homes in hot weather without electricity or running water. Some of them got only basic food and some ran away from other cities.
“Eid is meant to be spent with sweets and pastries, with happy children, and people greeting relatives, instead we are surrounded by gunfire and the smell of blood,” Sami Al Noor, a resident, told JEE News”.
Khartoum is witnessing one of the deadliest fighting, with military aircraft carrying out strikes and tanks roaming the streets, engulfing the country in violence.
On Friday, the military blamed Daglu’s forces for attacks in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman where they freed “a large number of prisoners” from a prison. The paramilitary – an offshoot of the Janjaweed militia group – denied the allegations.
The main reason for the bitterness between Burhan and Daglu is the issue of integration of RSF into the regular army. This was an important condition for the final agreement for Sudan’s democratic transition.
RSF commander Daglu now maintains that the coup was a “mistake” that failed to bring about change, while Burhan says it was “necessary” to involve more groups in politics.
Evacuation plans are underway.
South Korea, Japan and the United States are planning to evacuate their citizens from projects in conflict-torn Sudan to neighboring countries, and the European Union (EU) is eyeing a similar move.
The US State Department said on Friday that the situation remains too dangerous for embassy staff to evacuate.
Later, RSF said it was willing to partially open all Sudanese airports to evacuate foreign nationals, although it could not be confirmed which airports it controls.
Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate of 413 people killed, the number is believed to be much higher with many others who did not make it to hospitals.
According to the doctors’ union, more than two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum and neighboring states are now “out of service” while others have been looted, and at least four hospitals in North Kordofan state have been shelled.
The World Food Program warned in a warning that the conflict could push millions into starvation, with 15 million already in dire need of aid.
There is a general fear among analysts and experts that the country could plunge into a full-blown civil war and spread regional chaos.
