After fights and air strikes overnight, Khartoum residents reported a respite in fighting early on Sunday as a 72-hour ceasefire began to end more than two months of fighting between opposing Sudanese military forces.
Saudi and U.S. mediators claimed Sudan’s army and the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a ceasefire at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) and allowed aid delivery. Previous truces failed.
The power battle between the two factions has turned the city into a war zone with looting, caused fighting in neighboring districts, and escalated unrest in Darfur in western Sudan.
Witnesses reported fighting and air strikes in numerous sections of Khartoum and Omdurman, one of two cities that make up the capital at the confluence of the Nile, in the hours before the truce.
“The situation in Khartoum is calm, especially because last night there were air strikes and it was terrifying,” 49-year-old resident Salaheldin Ahmed told Reuters on Sunday morning, hoping the truce may be the “beginning of the end” of the battle.
“We are tired,” he remarked. “Enough of war, death, and looting.”
As violence has lessened, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have mediated ceasefires in Jeddah to facilitate humanitarian aid, but both sides have violated them.
Since early June, the struggle over a plan to transition to civilian elections four years after a popular revolt deposed longtime tyrant Omar al-Bashir has escalated.
Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the U.N. are having a donor conference in Geneva on Monday to raise funds for Sudanese humanitarian help.
The U.N. estimates that more than half of Sudan’s 49 million people require humanitarian aid, requiring $3 billion till year’s end.
It has also requested about $500 million for the conflict-related refugee issue. Nearly 1.7 million people have fled Sudan, and more than 500,000 have fled to neighboring nations.
