“UN Envoy Warns of Humanitarian Catastrophe Amidst Sudan’s Ongoing Conflict and Negotiations”

Despite the declared truce in Sudan, clashes raged between the army and the Rapid Support Forces yesterday in various areas of Khartoum, especially around the presidential palace and the army’s general command, which are the two largest sites of conflict between the two parties since the start of the war on April 15.

Explosions were heard, and columns of smoke rose in the vicinity of the presidential palace, while army planes flew over Khartoum, and air strikes and artillery bombardment shook separate areas of the capital, which is in its third week of fighting, prompting more civilians to flee.

The army said that its forces were able to reduce the combat capabilities of the Rapid Support Forces by more than half during 15 days of fighting, noting that the Rapid Support Forces mobilized huge forces amounting to more than 66,000 fighters, and 2,225 military vehicles and armored vehicles to control the capital.

Yesterday, the UN envoy to Sudan, Volker Peretz, announced that the army and the “rapid support” had agreed to enter into negotiations and to send delegates to them, suggesting that they would be held in Saudi Arabia without specifying a date. “We are facing obstacles in persuading the two sides of the conflict to end the violence, but we will work to secure a ceasefire under national and international monitoring,” he told the Associated Press.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured since the start of the conflict, which regional and international parties have expressed fears that it will push Sudan into a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Yesterday, the United Nations Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Rauf Mazo, said that more than 800,000 people may flee Sudan due to the current conflict, many of whom had arrived in Sudan as refugees.
Despite the truce…air and artillery bombardment in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Khartoum