Residents of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, said that at least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 wounded during fighting between rival military forces in a market.
Humanitarian organizations in the surrounding areas – which are helping residents to obtain food and medicine – described the situation as very dire, and doctors appealed to residents to donate blood.
Human rights lawyers said the army used artillery fire and bombed the market in southern Khartoum on Wednesday.
The army accused the rival RSF of shooting at civilians who were trying to stop them from stealing a car.
More than four million people have been displaced since the war broke out nearly seven weeks ago.
Questioning the sincerity of the parties towards peace
A senior US official said ceasefire violations in Sudan have led Washington to “question the seriousness” of the warring parties’ commitments to allow humanitarian access as clashes continued Thursday in Sudan.
Saudi Arabia and the United States are monitoring a ceasefire agreement that is supposed to last until Saturday evening, and this has raised hopes for an end to the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The truce has reduced the fighting and allowed for limited humanitarian relief, but it has been marred by clashes and airstrikes that have continued largely uninterrupted since the conflict erupted on 15 April.
On Wednesday, the army announced its withdrawal from the talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, where the two sides reached a cease-fire agreement, and where the mediators were trying to consolidate and prolong the truce.
Saudi Arabia and the United States listed serious ceasefire violations on both sides.
“These violations have led us, as a mediator of these talks, to seriously question whether the parties are willing to take the necessary actions to live up to the commitments they have made on behalf of the Sudanese people,” said a US State Department official.
Witnesses reported fighting early Thursday in various parts of the capital, which consists of Khartoum and its twin cities Bahri and Omdurman around the confluence of the Nile River, one of the largest metropolitan areas in Africa.
Residents said that they heard heavy artillery fire north of Omdurman, and sporadic gunfire in the south of Bahri.
Clashes also continued near a market in southern Khartoum, where at least 19 people were killed and 106 injured on Wednesday, a member of the local neighborhood committee told AFP.
He added that the number of dead and wounded was higher than the number mentioned because many people were treated or buried by their relatives in their homes because they were afraid of going to the hospital.
Extended airspace closure
On Wednesday, the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority extended the closure of the country’s airspace until June 15, amid the continuing armed conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
And the authority decided, in a notice to pilots, to extend the closure of airspace for all civil flights, except for those carrying humanitarian aid.
The authority said it may extend the closure again in the future.
The country’s airspace has been closed since the outbreak of clashes on April 15 due to damage to air navigation systems at Khartoum International Airport.
More than 800 people have been killed, and some 1.4 million people have been forced to leave their homes since the conflict began, with more than a million people internally displaced and some 345,000 people crossing into neighboring countries in search of safety, the United Nations Office and the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report this week. the past.
2023-06-01 12:11:59
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