New fighting breaks out in Sudan despite RSF announcement of 72-hour ceasefire

MADRID, 21 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have staged this Friday new fighting in the capital, Khartoum, just hours after the paramilitary forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire on the occasion of Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan.

The truce was announced after the collapse of several ceasefire announcements in recent days, although the head of the Sudanese Army, Abdelfatá al Burhan, did not specify whether the Armed Forces would respect it during a speech to the nation given at dawn on this very Friday.

Thus, the unilateral truce has collapsed shortly after the announcement by the RSF, which has stressed that "they will not remain idly by in the face of violations of the truce by the Army", according to information collected by the Sudanese television channel Al Hadath.

Residents of Khartoum and the city of Bahri have confirmed that there have been clashes in both cities, as reported by the Qatari television channel Al Jazeera, which has detailed that in the case of the capital there had been several bombings and attacks with artillery minutes before the RSF made its announcement.

The United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union, in addition to countries such as the United States and Kenya, had openly called for a truce commemorating the last day of Ramadan to achieve a general ceasefire that could lay the foundations for the end of the conflict that is shaking Sudan since Saturday and have so far left more than 300 dead, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The hostilities broke out on Saturday in the context of an increase in tensions around the reform of the security apparatus and the integration of the paramilitary force -- led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias 'Hemedti', who is also vice president of the Sovereign Council of Transition-- within the Armed Forces, a key part of an agreement signed in December to form a new civilian government and reactivate the transition.

The talks process began with international mediation after Al Burhan led a coup in October 2021 that overthrew the then unity prime minister, Abdalá Hamdok, appointed to the position as a result of contacts between civilians and the military after the riot of April 2019, which put an end to 30 years of the regime of Omar Hasan al Bashir.