Fighting continues in Sudan despite agreed ceasefire

Khartoum, May 23, (dpa/GNA) – Fighting between two rival military units in Sudan continued on Monday night despite a renewed ceasefire agreement between the two sides.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched an attack on an army airbase north of the capital Khartoum shortly after the ceasefire began, a local journalist told dpa.

According to media reports, there were also overnight air strikes and artillery fire in and around the capital. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, however, the situation appeared to be calm.

Representatives of the Sudanese army and the RSF had agreed on a ceasefire in talks on Saturday to take effect at 9.45 pm (1945 GMT) on Monday. Both sides had signed a corresponding deal brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia. In the weeks before, the army and the RSF had repeatedly broken verbally agreed ceasefires.

A long-simmering power struggle in the country in the Horn of Africa escalated violently on April 15. The army under the command of de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is fighting the paramilitary units of his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo. The two generals seized power together in 2021, but later fell out.

GNA