As they clashed in the air and on the ground in the capital Khartoum, the warring military factions in Sudan are resuming ceasefire negotiations backed by the US and Saudi Arabia.
The two parties had agreed to indirect talks, according to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, without giving further specifics. The army and RSF did not respond right away.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese army, spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan earlier on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Sovereign Council he chairs.
Residents in southern, eastern, and northern Bahri reported hearing gunfire and artillery on Tuesday morning as airstrikes and artillery fire continued overnight.
Looters have pillaged communities, snatching automobiles, cracking open safes, and invading homes, according to Khartoum residents and neighborhood groups.
According to a rights organisation called Emergency Lawyers, the RSF has surrounded the island of Tutti, which is located close to important battlegrounds like the presidential palace.
According to a statement from the RSF, the island has been cut off from food supplies and medical assistance for eight days due to the RSF’s blockade. Additionally, it claimed that RSF members had shot at anyone attempting to escape the island, killing one guy in the process.
Overnight, the two forces clashed in the streets of the city of Omdurman, around the army’s Engineers Corps base. The army, which tends to prefer air strikes to ground fighting, was able to maintain its positions around the base but could not push back the RSF, which controls most of the rest of the city.
“Our neighborhood has become a war zone. There are fierce clashes and strikes all around us because our house is next to the Engineers’ Corps,” said 45-year-old Jawahir Mohamed.
“We are scared of dying but we are also scared of leaving our house and being burgled,” she added.
Looters have pillaged communities, snatching automobiles, cracking open safes, and invading homes, according to Khartoum residents and neighborhood groups.
In order to deliver aid, Saudi Arabia and the United States mediated negotiations that resulted in shakily observed ceasefires. However, last week’s negotiations came to an end after the mediators claimed there had been multiple grave infractions.
Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million people have fled Khartoum and other cities, and over 400,000 civilians have been forced beyond Sudan’s borders. At least 175,000 people have traveled to Egypt, and many of them have encountered days-long or even weeks-long delays in border villages with scant amenities.
According to a statement from the Sudanese foreign ministry, Burhan’s special envoy, Ambassador Dafallah al-Haj, met with representatives of the Egyptian foreign ministry on Tuesday to discuss the challenges facing Sudanese refugees and got guarantees that border bottlenecks will be removed.