8 May, 2023: Sudan maintained peace for 7 days, but again broke into violence. What is the UN saying ? Read to know more.
On 15 April, the de facto [effective] leader of Sudan and his former deputy, who is now the alternative leader, engaged in deadly urban combat.
The last ceasefire came to an end at midnight on Wednesday, and the regular army declared that it was prepared to uphold a new seven-day ceasefire negotiated with South Sudanese mediators. However, the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) remained silent.
But what happened in Sudan? How did it all start?
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According to Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations who spoke to reporters, "the UN was taken by surprise" by the crisis because the international organisation and others were hoping that talks to transition to a civilian government would be successful. Just one day after Mr. Guterres recognised that the international community had "failed" Sudan, gunfire and explosions engulfed Khartoum for a 20th straight day on Thursday, leaving the most recent ceasefire effort in ruins.
The most recent health ministry statistics, which are probably incomplete, show that at least 550 people have died and 4,926 have been injured.
The most recent 72-hour ceasefire is set to come to an end on the 3rd of may at 22:00 GMT [3:30 am Friday, IST], but despite numerous announcements of truces, none have truly manifested. Only 16 percent of Khartoum's [capital city of Sudan] hospitals are still fully operational, according to the UN, because numerous hospitals were hit during the fighting.
The two generals were scheduled to meet with international mediators on the day that combat broke out to talk about the RSF's incorporation into the regular army, which was a crucial requirement for the transition to democratic governance. Instead, gunfire could be heard echoing through the streets as Khartoum woke up.
"The Sudanese people want neither of them," exiled rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur, a veteran of decades of conflict in Darfur, said.
Following the looting of six trucks carrying food supplies from the World Food Programme on their way to the western region of Darfur, ravaged by war , the UN's top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, paid a brief visit to Sudan in an effort to facilitate a safe exit for aid and aid workers. After a brief layover in Saudi Arabia, he was scheduled to continue his journey to Nairobi, according to his spokesman.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, about 450,000 citizens have fled their homes since hostilities started, including more than 115,000 who have sought asylum in adjacent nations.
As of Wednesday, 47,000 Sudanese and 3,500 foreigners had entered Egypt, according to the UN refugee agency. The battle in the adjacent Sudan was "affecting the entire region" Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned.