CAIRO (Reuters) – The United States and Saudi Arabia have urged Sudanese warring parties to extend a fragile ceasefire that expires on Monday after weeks of fighting in the Sudan capital and elsewhere in Africa have stalled.
The Sudanese military and rival militias that have been fighting for control of Sudan since mid-April last week agreed to a week-long ceasefire brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. However, like other ceasefires before it, the ceasefire did not end fighting in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
In a joint statement early Sunday morning, the United States and Saudi Arabia called for an extension of the current ceasefire, which expires at 9am.
Monday at 45:00 local time.
Fighting broke out between the army and the powerful RSF in mid-April. Military commander General Abdul Fattah Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo both led the 2021 coup to overthrow the government of Western-backed Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.
The conflict has killed hundreds, injured thousands, and threatened to collapse the country. About 1.4 million people have been displaced from their homes and sought refuge in safer areas in Sudan and neighboring countries, according to the United Nations Migration Service. Local residents reported new sporadic clashes on Sunday as military planes flew over the city in parts of the neighboring city of Omdurman. Fighting was also reported in Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
In separate statements, the United States and Saudi Arabia accused both the military and the RSF of violating the ceasefire, saying such violations “seriously hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the restoration of essential services.”
The statement referred to military airstrikes, including one that reportedly killed at least two people in Khartoum on Saturday. The RSF also continued to occupy private homes, private businesses and public buildings, looting some homes.
In the first two weeks of the war, the military targeted RSF camps inside and outside the capital, destroying militia bases. This forced the RSF to operate in densely populated areas, confiscating people’s homes and other belongings and using them as cover for military airstrikes.
imprisonment of Dr. Prominent surgeon and pro-democracy activist Alaa Erdin Awad Nogoud, who lives in Omdurman, has caused an uproar in the country, with medical and human rights groups in and outside Sudan demanding his release.
Gunmen stormed Nogoud’s home on Sunday and arrested him, according to the Sudan Doctors Syndicate. He was taken to a strange place.
The Forces for Freedom and Change, a coalition for democracy, said the shooters claimed to be members of the military and intelligence services. The newspaper called for Nogud’s detention as part of a campaign against pro-democracy activists and called for his immediate release.
The incident came after Noguud told a TV station last week that the military had seized medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization and stored them in a military hospital in Omdurman, local media reported.
He said he was denied entry to the facility when doctors asked for a share of the aid to other hospitals. He said he was told he needed permission first to enter.
A military spokesman declined to comment on Sunday. The US and Saudi statements came two days after Burhan sent a letter to the UN secretary-general asking him to remove the UN envoy to Saudi Arabia. A spokesman said the UN secretary-general was “shocked” by the letter.
