Sudan: Renewed clashes in North Darfur, with the truce entering its fourth day
Clashes renewed between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in the city of El Fasher in North Darfur state, with the short-term ceasefire agreement entering its fourth day, according to the Arab World News Agency.
Residents of El Fasher said that the Sudanese army forces attacked last night the “rapid support” forces outside the city, and violent clashes took place between the two parties, after a lull that lasted for more than a month.
One of the residents, Othman Dahia, indicated that the sounds of heavy artillery have been still shaking throughout the city since last night, amid dozens of deaths and injuries.
The Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces signed, last Saturday, in the Saudi city of Jeddah, an agreement providing for a cease-fire and a humanitarian truce for a period of seven days, which can be extended, starting on Monday evening.
The truce aims to enable organizations to deliver humanitarian aid to citizens in neighborhoods, hospitals and health centers. A joint committee comprising the two parties to the armed conflict, Saudi Arabia and the United States, monitors the ceasefire agreement.
The Sudanese Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that the number of victims who have fallen in the country since the outbreak of the conflict until May 22, has risen to 709 dead and 5424 injured.
“terrible night”
Residential areas in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan have become military battlefields, and civilians suffer from appalling conditions, with electricity and water cut off for hours on end and several hospitals out of service.
According to United Nations statistics, the fighting has displaced nearly a million people within Sudan and into neighboring countries.
In Khartoum, eyewitnesses told the Arab World News Agency that some areas of the capital witnessed violent clashes and heavy artillery shelling between the army and the Rapid Support forces last night, in addition to the flight of warplanes since dawn today.
Witnesses stated that bloody confrontations took place between the two parties in the vicinity of the Corps of Engineers in Omdurman and the Armored Vehicles Command in Al-Shajara area, south of Khartoum.
“When I heard the sound of bullets, I took cover in my room, but a bullet penetrated the window, smashed the glass and hit the wall, and had it not been for God’s grace, I would have been injured, which may have taken my life,” said Nasr al-Din Abdul Qadir, who lives in al-Shajara neighborhood.
He added, “It was a terrifying night. Now I have begun to think seriously about removing my family from the capital, as the two sides exchange fire inside residential neighborhoods and do not respect the lives of civilians.”
Witnesses pointed out that the Wadi Sayedna area, from which the warplanes of the Sudanese army depart, is witnessing heavy artillery shelling for the third day in a row.
Long lines
In the city of Omdurman, west of the capital, citizens who are still clinging to staying in their homes, stand in long lines in front of the few bakeries that are still operating in the city to obtain loaves of bread to subsist.
Yasser Al-Hussein, one of the residents waiting in those lines to get bread, says that most of the bakeries have closed their doors; Either for fear of the deteriorating security situation as a result of the armed clashes between the army and the “rapid support” forces, or for the lack of flour (flour) or gas, or for the workers to travel to their families outside Khartoum.
In an interview with the Arab World News Agency, he indicated that the price of the loaf rose to one pound, instead of 25 piasters, an increase of 300 percent.
He added, “We have remained in this situation since the beginning of the war, but the situation has worsened during the past days, despite the signing of the ceasefire agreement that enables organizations to deliver aid.”
Source: aawsat