Desperate civilians flee Sudan's capital after ceasefire fails
UN health agency says nearly 300 dead in 5 days of fighting; 2nd truce attempted
Sudan's rival generals on Wednesday made a new attempt at a 24-hour humanitarian ceasefire after a failed truce the night before. But sporadic fighting continued in the capital, and aid groups said they needed guarantees and a wider window to help civilians trapped by five days of intense urban combat.
Terrified Sudanese fled Khartoum earlier in the day, hauling whatever belongings they could carry and trying to get out of the city, where forces loyal to the country's top two generals have been battling each other with tanks, artillery and airstrikes since Saturday.
The fighting grew less intense in the first hours after the ceasefire took effect at 6 p.m. local time, with sporadic clashes continuing in the city centre, said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors' Syndicate.
But he said neither side has provided guarantees to his group to facilitate movement of health-care workers and ambulances.
Desperate residents of the capital have been running out of food and other supplies as they sheltered in their homes from the gun battles, bombardment and airstrikes on the streets outside.
Hospitals have been damaged and forced to close or have been overwhelmed by wounded, with staff exhausted and medical supplies depleted.
Increasingly, armed fighters have turned to looting shops and robbing anyone who dares step outside.
Nearly 300 people have been killed in the past five days, the UN health agency said, but the toll is likely higher because many bodies lie uncollected in the streets.
In the tense hours after Wednesday's ceasefire, Abdalla al-Tayeb joined other residents in collecting bodies near the main military headquarters, the scene of intense fighting.
"All of them nearly rotted, causing a foul smell that reached our homes," he said. "The scene was heinous."
After the failure of Tuesday evening's truce attempt, hundreds gave up on trying to hold out for calm and fled their homes throughout the day Wednesday, even as explosions and gunfire shook Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman.
Residents of multiple neighbourhoods told The Associated Press they could see men, women and children leaving with luggage, some on foot, others crowding into vehicles.
Sporadic shooting, explosions
On Wednesday evening, the army and its rivals, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), separately announced that a new 24-hour truce had begun.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called for both sides to stand by a truce, "renounce violence and return to negotiations."
She said the army and the RSF "are responsible for ensuring the protections of civilians and non-combatants."
Until now, army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — former allies against Sudan's pro-democracy movement — seem determined to crush each other in their struggle for power.
Fighting near military headquarters
Throughout the day Wednesday, the two sides battled around the main military headquarters in central Khartoum, which the RSF has tried repeatedly to capture, and the nearby airport.
Residents said the military was pounding RSF positions with airstrikes.
The army's monopoly on air power has appeared to give it an edge in fighting in Khartoum and Omdurman, enabling it to take several RSF bases over the past few days.
But tens of thousands of fighters from the paramilitary force are fanned out across neighbourhoods.
Residents say armed men, mostly in RSF uniforms, have raided homes, offices and shops in neighbourhoods across Khartoum.
Both sides in the conflict have a long history of human rights abuses.
The RSF was born out of the Janjaweed militias, which were accused of widespread atrocities when the government deployed them to put down a rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region in the early 2000s.
Darfur has also seen heavy clashes in the past five days.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders, or MSF after its French name, said armed men raided its compound in Nyala in Darfur, stealing vehicles and office equipment and looting a warehouse storing medical supplies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its office in Nyala was also looted, with one vehicle taken.
Abdalla Hussein, the program manager for MSF, welcomed the truce but said 24 hours "is not enough" for sustained relief operations, particularly in remote areas.
Foreigners, including diplomats and aid workers, have also been trapped by the fighting.
Medical supplies running out
Hospitals in Khartoum are running dangerously low on medical supplies, often operating without power and clean water, the ICRC said in a statement.
Dozens of health-care facilities in Khartoum and around the country have stopped functioning because they are close to clashes, the Sudanese Doctors' Syndicate said Wednesday. At least nine hospitals were bombed, it said.
The UN's World Health Organization said Wednesday at least 296 people have been killed and more than 3,000 wounded since fighting began, without offering a breakdown of civilians and combatants killed.