The truce, little respected since its entry into force on Tuesday, must expire Thursday evening at midnight.
Violence reached a new level in Sudan on Thursday 27 April, with destruction and looting in Darfur and intense shelling in Khartoum, the capital, on the thirteenth day of a conflict between the army and paramilitaries who have already hundreds of dead.
US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said he was working “actively” to extend a ceasefire that came into effect on Tuesday for three days, but which was hardly respected, and was due to expire at midnight Thursday evening.
The army announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to send a representative to Juba, the capital of neighboring South Sudan, for talks with the paramilitaries to discuss an extension of the truce. The paramilitaries did not comment on the announcement of these discussions, “at the initiative of IGAD”regional bloc in East Africa, according to the army.
Concern in Darfur
The fighting since April 15 between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the very dreaded paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, known as “Hemedti”, has killed more than 500 people. and thousands injured, according to the Sudanese Ministry of Health.
The ceasefire allowed the evacuation of hundreds of foreigners and thousands of Sudanese, but did not prevent Khartoum from being pounded by planes and heavy artillery continuously. In Darfur, a remote region to which access is currently impossible, violence is intensifying, particularly in El-Geneina : “Hospitals, public buildings and health centers have been severely damaged and there is looting on every street corner”says a resident quoted by AFP.
The UN has been reporting for several days “attacks on civilians, looting and burning of houses”. Even more dangerous, says the organization, “weapons are distributed” to civilians.
Fourteen hospitals were bombed in the combat zones, according to the doctors’ union, and 19 others were forcibly evacuated because of gunfire, lack of equipment and personnel or because fighters had taken up residence there.