Sudan truce extension brings renewed fighting, little aid

KHARTOUM - Fighting flared again in Sudan on Tuesday despite the latest ceasefire pledges of the two warring generals, meant to allow desperately needed aid to reach besieged civilians.

US and Saudi mediators said that the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to extend by five days the humanitarian truce they frequently violated over the past week.

Since the announcement, residents reported "clashes with various kinds of weapons in southern Khartoum", and fighting in Nyala, South Darfur's state capital.

READ: Gunfire adds to violations near end of breached Sudan truce

"The army is ready to fight until victory," army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declared during a visit to troops in Khartoum.

Analyst Rashid Abdi dismissed the ceasefire on Twitter, pointing to "a deep disconnect between the reality on the ground in Sudan and diplomacy in Jeddah", where the mediators had brokered the truce between Burhan and his rival, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The mediators admitted the truce had been "imperfectly observed" but said the extension "will permit further humanitarian efforts".

READ: Fighting rages in Darfur as Sudan mediators report progress

The war has killed more than 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The United Nations says more than a million people have been internally displaced and nearly 350,000 have fled abroad, including over 170,000 to Egypt.

Those still in Khartoum have been hiding from street combat and roaming looters in the capital city of more than five million, nearly 700,000 of whom have fled, according to the UN.

"Looting and robbery have become commonplace in Khartoum, with some areas being entirely stripped of possessions," said Ahmed Omer of the Norwegian Refugee Council.