CLASHES BETWEEN SUDAN’S WARRING FACTIONS INTENSIFY DAY AFTER CEASEFIRE ENDS

Tue 13 June 2023:

Violent clashes resumed in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, today between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, according to witnesses.

Sounds of artillery shelling and heavy and light weapons were heard in Bahri, northeast of Khartoum and south of the capital, witnesses said.

Military aircraft were also seen flying over the area.

“Military aircraft targeted RSF forces stationed in the streets and inside residential neighbourhoods,” an eyewitness told Anadolu.

There was no comment yet from the army or the RSF on the clashes.

Fighting between the two military rivals renewed yesterday after the expiry of a one-day ceasefire brokered by US and Saudi mediators.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the army and the RSF since 15 April, according to medics.

Previous ceasefire deals between the two conflicting parties were repeatedly violated, with the two sides trading accusations for the violations.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a “coup”.

Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar Al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.