CAIRO (AP) — Saudi Arabia and the United States said Friday that warring parties in Sudan’s conflict are better adhering to a weeklong ceasefire after days of sporadic fighting.
The truce, brokered by Riyadh and Washington, came into effect on Monday, but fighting continued in Khartoum and the western Darfur region. Particularly intense clashes erupted on Wednesday, the two countries said in a joint statement.
The conflict in Sudan erupted in mid-April after months of escalating tensions between the army, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo . The conflict has killed at least 863 civilians, including at least 190 children, according to the latest figures from the Sudanese Doctors’ Union.
The week-long ceasefire is the seventh attempt at a truce after others were breached.
A new cross-party committee to monitor potential violations observed on Wednesday “use of artillery and military aircraft and drones, credible reports of airstrikes, sustained fighting” in Khartoum and Darfur.
Amid the calm announced on Thursday, humanitarian missions were able to deliver “urgently needed medical supplies to several locations in Sudan”, the joint statement said. Efforts are also underway to restore telecommunications services in the capital, Khartoum, and other parts of Sudan. country, he said.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned both sides of possible sanctions if the latest ceasefire is broken.
According to the UN, more than a million Sudanese have been internally displaced, while some 300,000 have fled to neighboring countries. The conflict has pushed the East African country to the brink of collapse, with urban areas in Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman disintegrating into battlefields.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday evening that the World Food Program had provided more than half a million people in nine states with food and nutrition support since distributions restarted around three weeks.
Riyadh and Washington called on the military and the RSF to continue to respect the ceasefire.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell contributed to this report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Edith Lederer contributed from New York,