dpa
Khartoum
There were further outbreaks of heavy fighting in Sudan on Monday, despite the extended ceasefire between government troops and paramilitary units in Khartoum and the neighbouring city of Omdurman.
According to media reports and eyewitness accounts, including near the presidential palace, there were airstrikes and gunfire in the morning. Both parties to the conflict initially extended a ceasefire that expired on Sunday evening by 72 hours.However, neither side has fully observed a ceasefire since fighting began some two weeks ago between the armed forces led by de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. Daglo is the influential paramilitary group RSF’s leader.
Fighting broke out on April 15 between the country’s most powerful generals, who had taken over the country’s leadership of about 46 million through two military coups in 2019 and 2021. Clashes continued over the weekend despite calling a 72-hour ceasefire on Thursday, with both sides accusing the other of violating the agreement. Earlier, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the UN food agency would lift a suspension of its aid mission in Sudan as the crisis in the country worsens amid ongoing violence.
WFP executive director Cindy McCain said that the agency would "immediately” lift a suspension of its programmes that it put in place following the death of three employees "as the crisis in Sudan pushes millions into hunger.” "WFP is rapidly resuming our programs to provide the life-saving assistance that many so desperately need right now,” McCain tweeted.
Food distribution in some Sudanese states is expected to begin in the next few days, a WFP statement said, noting that the security situation remains highly precarious. "We will take utmost care to ensure the safety of all our staff and partners as we rush to meet the growing needs of the most vulnerable,” the WFP said. Over 15 million people faced severe food insecurity in Sudan before this conflict, the WFP said, forecasting that the numbers are likely to grow significantly as the fighting continues.
The UN agency has been warning that the ongoing fighting in Sudan could plunge the entire region of East Africa into a humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of people have been killed since the fighting began, including three employees of the WFP, while two other staff members were injured in the same incident in Kabkabiya, North Darfur. Following their deaths on April 15, the agency paused its aid mission in Sudan.