More shelling and gunfights in Khartoum as efforts to impose ceasefire before end of Muslim holy month fail
Sudan faces a weekend of intensified violence after last-minute efforts to impose a ceasefire before the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr on Friday night and bring a close to almost a week of fighting in the capital failed.
The conflict broke out last weekend and has pitted army units loyal to Sudan’s military ruler, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the ruling council. Their power struggle has derailed a shift to civilian rule and raised fears of chaos in the country of 45 million people, Africa’s third largest.
“For Eid this year, our country is bleeding: destruction, desolation and the sound of bullets have taken precedence over joy,” he said. “We hope that we will come out of this ordeal more united … a single army, a single people … towards a civilian power.” Another local person said: “There was an airstrike in our area this morning. I didn’t see the troops but the army was hitting the RSF on the ground. A rocket hit next to our house … The situation is devastating, all our neighbours have left, we are the only people in the whole block. I think the army’s position is stronger today. They have started to regain control on the ground.”
Other diplomats, including representatives of the African Union and several Middle East states, have been in touch with both sides in the conflict over the last 48 hours in a fresh but fruitless attempt to broker a truce.
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