Sudan’s capital is quiet after the 24-hour ceasefire. A U.S.-Saudi-brokered 24-hour truce on Saturday morning allowed humanitarian aid and a reprieve from severe fighting in Khartoum.
Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke several truces eight weeks ago, causing a humanitarian crisis.
In a statement announcing the new truce, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia expressed “frustration” over the violations and threatened to end indirect talks if fighting continues.
The April 15 violence has turned Khartoum and its sister cities, Bahri and Omdurman, into a war zone and caused turmoil in Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan areas to the west.
Residents in southern Khartoum and the Sharg el-Nil neighborhood across the Nile reported air raids and anti-aircraft missile fire before the truce began at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT).
Since June 3, significant fighting has occurred around key army bases, with the RSF seizing possession of an armaments manufacturing plant in southern Khartoum.
Late Friday, the U.S. State Department supported the Sudan Conflict Observatory, which will disseminate satellite monitoring results of combat and ceasefires.
The observatory reported “widespread and targeted” water, electricity, and communications facility destruction.
It also reported eight “systematic” arson assaults that destroyed Darfur communities and seven attacks on schools, mosques, and other public facilities in El Geneina, the country’s westernmost city, which has suffered fierce militia attacks under a telecom blackout.
The UN estimates that more than half of Sudan’s population may need aid this year due to war.
Despite previous ceasefires, aid agencies reported being hampered by conflict, bureaucracy, and looting.
Over 1.9 million people have fled the war, with over 400,000 crossing into neighboring nations.
A civilian rule transition stalled four years after a popular rebellion overthrew President Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan’s army and the RSF, a parallel force that has operated legally since 2017, disagreed over transition plans to combine their personnel and reorganize their chain of command.
