Fighting has intensified in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, shattering the latest ceasefire aimed at allowing people to flee to safety.
On Sunday April 29, 2023, the army said it was attacking the city from all directions, with air strikes and heavy artillery, to flush out its paramilitary rivals.
The latest truce was due to end late on Sunday. Millions remain trapped in the capital, where food is running short.
Foreign countries have been evacuating their nationals amid the chaos.
More than 500 people have been reported killed since fighting erupted on April 15 between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). But the number of dead and injured may be much higher.
Army commander Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF chief Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, are vying for power – and disagree in particular about plans to include the RSF into the army.
Thursday night’s agreement to extend an uneasy ceasefire followed intensive diplomatic efforts by neighbouring countries, the US, UK and UN. But the 72-hour extension has not held.
By Saturday evening, heavy fighting had resumed in Khartoum. The army said it had conducted operations against RSF troops north of the city centre.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters news agency that army drones had targeted RSF position near a major oil refinery.
“We woke up once again to the sound of fighter jets and anti-aircraft weapons blasting all over our neighbourhood,” one resident told AFP news agency on Sunday.
BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, who is monitoring events from Nairobi in Kenya, says the army will find it difficult to expel the RSF from Khartoum.
For all the army’s superior firepower, the RSF are highly mobile and more suited to urban warfare, our correspondent adds.
