Witnesses said shelling and gunfire resumed Sunday in Sudan’s capital, ending a 24-hour ceasefire that had provided citizens a rare reprieve from over two months of violence.
Since mid-April, when army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who controls the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned on one other, deadly warfare has raged in the northeast African country.
The latest in a series of ceasefire accords allowed civilians stranded in Khartoum’s capital to walk outdoors and stock up on food and other necessities.
Witnesses told AFP that only 10 minutes after it finished at 6:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Sunday, the capital was jolted again by the sound of artillery and fights.
Witnesses reported hearing heavy artillery fire in Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman to the north, as well as fighting on Al-Hawa Street, a major artery in the capital’s south.
Multiple truces have been made and violated since the conflict began, and Washington sanctioned both rival generals when the most recent attempt failed at the end of May.
The current nationwide ceasefire was declared by US and Saudi mediators, who warned that they would withdraw from mediation efforts.
“Should the parties fail to observe the 24-hour ceasefire, facilitators will be compelled to consider adjourning” talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah which have been suspended since late last month, the mediators said on Saturday.
The mediators said they “share the frustration of the Sudanese people about the uneven implementation of previous ceasefires”.
Upwards of 1,800 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Nearly two million people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.