Sudan: The US-Saudi-mediated ceasefire gets underway despite reports of ongoing fighting
By Ahmad Hadizat Omayoza, Mamos Nigeria
A weeklong ceasefire in Sudan planned to permit the conveyance of humanitarian aid got off to a flimsy beginning on Monday night as observers in the capital, Khartoum, detailed warrior jets over the city and kept battling in certain areas.
The agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia to end six weeks of fighting was announced and stated to enter into force at 9.45 p.m. (7.45 p.m. BST). The army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had been pressured by global powers to reach an agreement. Attempts in the past have failed.
Witnesses reported hearing heavy bombardments in east Khartoum, and one resident shared a picture of thick black smoke rising into the sky. Shooting could reportedly still be heard in Khartoum’s twin cities of Omdurman and Bahri.
Some time before the truce became real, the military led weighty airstrikes across the capital, Khartoum, against its paramilitary opponents.
This was the first ceasefire to be formally agreed upon after negotiations, despite the fact that fighting continued during previous ceasefires.
Battling has pitted the Sudanese armed force, drove by Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the RSF, drove by Burhan’s previous appointee Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. More than a million people have been forced to flee their homes, and millions more are trapped without access to food, medicine, or electricity.
After talks in Jeddah, a monitoring mechanism that includes representatives from Saudi Arabia and the United States as well as members of the RSF and the army is included for the first time in the ceasefire agreement.
In no time before the truce was because of produce results, the RSF delivered a sound message from Dagalo in which he said thanks to Saudi Arabia and the US however encouraged his men on to triumph.
He stated, “We will not retreat until we end this coup.”
Facilities have been attacked during the conflict, making it difficult for aid agencies to operate in the midst of the violence. The Sudanese Columnists’ Organization has blamed the RSF for looting and going after correspondents. According to the syndicate, Al Jazeera reporters Ahmed Fadol and Rashid Jibril were beaten along with their relatives who were in an apartment when RSF soldiers raided it last week.
“The writers’ organization rejects focusing on and threatening the columnists and holds the gatherings of the furnished clash full liability of their wellbeing while they are working in very complicated conditions,” the organization said in an explanation.
