Concerns truce agreement may not hold despite three-day extension as unrest continues
Street battles and gunfire threaten what remains of a fragile ceasefire in Sudan, nowdespite a three-day extension of the truce agreement, as a Turkish evacuation plane was shot at as it attempted to land.
At least 96 people have died in Darfur since Monday in intercommunal violence rekindled by the conflict, according to a UN human rights office spokesperson. Releases and escapes from at least eight jails, including five in Khartoum and two in Darfur, were adding to the chaos, the spokesperson said. “We are very worried about the prospect of further violence amid a generalised climate of impunity.”
Clouds of thick smoke rose above two areas of Bahri, northern Khartoum, on Friday as locals reported hearing sounds of gunfire. The Sudanese army has used airstrikes with jets or drones to strike RSF forces that have fanned out through residential neighbourhoods in Sudan’s sprawling capital. Civilians have been left to shelter in their homes, often without easy access to food, water, fuel or electricity.
Charlotte Hallqvist of the UN refugee agency, currently in the town of Renk near the Joda border crossing into South Sudan, said: “Many fled to Sudan during the civil war, obtained refugee status and are now fleeing back. Obviously this is tragic, I spoke to so many who thought they would never have to flee again.”
According to the IOM, at least 1,000 people have crossed into Ethiopia each day this week, and more are expected to arrive. Most are Turkish and Ethiopian nationals, as well as groups of Sudanese and Somali citizens. Almost 15% of arrivals in Ethiopia are minors, it says.
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