KHARTOUM: Sudan’s rival military forces accused each other of fresh violations of a ceasefire on Sunday as their deadly conflict rumbled on for a third week despite warnings of a slide towards catastrophic civil war.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded since a long-simmering power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15.

The RSF said a formal ceasefire agreement which was due to expire at midnight would be extended for a further 72 hours “in response to international, regional and local calls”.

The parties have fought on despite a series of ceasefires secured by mediators including the United States.

The situation in Khartoum, where the army has been battling RSF forces entrenched in residential areas, was relatively calm on Sunday morning, after heavy clashes were heard on Saturday evening near the city centre.

The army said on Sunday it had destroyed RSF convoys moving towards Khartoum from the west. The RSF said the army had used artillery and warplanes to attack its positions in a number of areas in Khartoum province.

In an apparent bid to boost its forces, the army said on Saturday that the Central Reserve Police had begun to deploy in southern Khar­toum and would be deployed gradually in other areas of the capital.

Sudan’s police said the force had been deployed to protect markets and property that had been subjected to looting. The RSF warned police on Saturday against becoming involved in fighting.

The force is a large and heavily-armed division of Sudan’s police force that has fighting experience from conflicts in the western region of Darfur and in the Nuba mountains in southern Sudan.

In March last year, the United States imposed sanctions on the force, accusing it of using excessive force against protesters who were demonstrating against a 2021 military coup.

‘No direct negotiations’

The fighting in Khartoum has so far seen RSF forces fan out across the city as the army tries to target them largely by using air strikes from drones and fighter jets.

The conflict has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing across Sudan’s borders and prompted warnings the country could disintegrate, destabilising a volatile region and prompting foreign governments to scramble to evacuate their nationals.

The United States has sent a navy ship to take its citizens, two US officials said, as Britain announced it had arranged an extra evacuation flight from Port Sudan on the eastern Red Sea coast.

Prospects for talks bleak

The prospects for negotiations have appeared bleak.

“There are no direct negotiations, there are preparations for talks,” UN special representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, told journalists in Port Sudan, adding that regional and other countries were working with the two sides.

Perthes, who said on Saturday the sides were more open to negotiations than before, said he hoped a direct meeting between representatives of the sides would be held as soon as possible aimed at “achieving an organised ceasefire with a monitoring mechanism”.

Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al Burhan has said he would never sit down with Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

The RSF chief in turn said he would talk only after the army ceased hostilities.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, whose government has played a part in mediating ceasefires, met Burhan envoy Daffalla Al Haj Ali in Riyadh, the Saudi foreign ministry said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023