Airstrikes, artillery continue as Sudan fighting enters third week

[April 29, 2023]  KHARTOUM (Reuters) - The sounds of air strikes, anti-aircraft weaponry and artillery could be heard in Khartoum early on Saturday and dark smoke rose over parts of the city, as fighting in Sudan entered a third week.

Fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary force continued despite the announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Friday, when strikes by air, tanks and artillery rocked Khartoum and the adjacent cities of Bahri and Ombdurman.

Hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have fled for their lives in a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that erupted into violence on April 15, derailing an internationally-backed transition toward democratic elections.

The fighting has also reawakened a two-decade-old conflict in the western Darfur region where scores have died this week.

The army has been deploying jets or drones on RSF forces in neighbourhoods across the capital. Many residents are pinned down by urban warfare with scant food, fuel, water and power.

At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 wounded, according to the United Nations, which believes the real toll is much higher.

More than 75,000 people were internally displaced within Sudan just in the first week of the fighting, according to the United Nations. Only 16% of hospitals were operating as normal in the capital.

The latest ceasefire, brokered by foreign powers, is supposed to last until Sunday at midnight.

The RSF accused the army of violating it with air strikes on its bases in Omdurman, Khartoum's sister city at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers, and Mount Awliya.

The army blamed the RSF for violations.

People of different nationalities arrive at Jeddah Sea Port after being evacuated by Saudi Arabia from Sudan to escape the conflicts, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 28, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

The violence has sent tens of thousands of refugees across Sudan's borders and threatens to stir instability across a volatile swathe of Africa between the Sahel and the Red Sea.

Foreign governments have evacuated diplomats and citizens to safety over the past week, including with airlifts. Britain said its evacuations would end on Saturday as demand for spots on planes had declined.

The U.S. said several hundred Americans had departed Sudan by land, sea or air. A convoy of buses carrying 300 Americans left Khartoum late on Friday on a 525-mile (850-km) trip to the Red Sea in the first U.S.-organized evacuation effort for citizens, the New York Times reported.

In Darfur, at least 96 people had died since Monday in inter-communal violence rekindled by the army-RSF conflict, U.N. human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

(Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz and Eltayeb Siddig in Sudan, Aidan Lewis, Alaa Swilam and Sherif Fahmy in Cairo, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Emma Farge in Geneva, Denis Elamu in Juba, Ayenat Mersie in Nairobi; Writing by Cynthia Osterman and William Mallard; Editing by Tom Perry and Frances Kerry)

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