Civilians in Sudan brace for ‘return of terror’ as one-day ceasefire ends | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
Shelling and gunfire resumed on Sunday in the Sudanese capital, witnesses said, after the end of a 24-hour ceasefire that gave civilians a brief respite from nearly two months of war.
Fighting has raged in Sudan since mid-April, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, turned on each other.
The latest in a series of ceasefire agreements enabled civilians trapped in the capital Khartoum to venture outside and stock up on food and other essential supplies.
But just ten minutes after it ended at 6:00 am local time, the capital was rocked again by shelling and clashes, witnesses told French news agency AFP.
The one-day lull was “like a dream” that evaporated, said Nasreddin Ahmed, a resident of south Khartoum who was awoken by the fighting.
Asmaa al-Rih, who lives in the capital’s northern suburbs, lamented the “return of terror” with “rockets and shells shaking the walls of houses” once again.
Heavy artillery fire was heard in Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman to the north, witnessed said.
Clouds of smoke were also seen billowing for a fifth successive day from the Al-Shajara oil and gas facility near the Yarmouk military factory in Khartoum.
Mediators frustrated
Multiple truces have been agreed and broken, prompting the United States and Saudi Arabia, which are attempting to mediate, to threaten to break off their efforts if the latest truce failed.
The mediators said they “share the frustration of the Sudanese people about the uneven implementation of previous ceasefires”.
Sudan humanitarian crisis deepens as aid facilities become targets
The fighting has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, killing upwards of 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Nearly two million people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.
Egypt route toughened
Over 200,000 have entered Egypt, mostly by land.
But on Saturday Egypt announced it was toughening requirements for Sudanese citizens who had previously been exempted from visas – women of all ages, children under 16 and anyone over 50.
Egypt said the new requirements were not designed to “prevent or limit” the entry of Sudanese people, but rather to stop “illegal activities by individuals and groups on the Sudanese side of the border, who forged entry visas” for profit.
RFI/AFP
