Sudan’s Clashing Forces sign pledge to allow aid, but no ceasefire

The Americans and Saudis hope to expand talks to end the fighting and civilian rule once and for all, “as the Sudanese people have been demanding for years,” said Victoria Nuland, a senior State Department official. told a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

After the first shots rang out in Khartoum, fighting quickly spread across the country, with violence particularly intense in the western region of Darfur and, last week, in the south-central Sudan town of El-Obeid.

Both sides have repeatedly agreed to and broken ceasefires negotiated by foreign officials. These included a 72-hour ceasefire mediated by the United States in late April and a week-long ceasefire announced by South Sudan this month.

In cities like Khartoum, the fighting took place in densely populated areas, with both sides deploying machine guns, bazookas, rockets and, in the case of the military, fighter jets. Officers in the paramilitary forces took up defensive positions in neighborhoods and hospitals, according to residents, with the military retaliating by firing on them.

The United Nations’ highest human rights body held an emergency session in Geneva on Thursday to draw attention to the killings, injuries and other abuses of civilians. The head of that body, Volker Turk, accused both sides of violating humanitarian law.

As fighting has intensified, hospitals, laboratories and medical staff already have working in appalling conditions and without suppliesincreasingly come under fire.

Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting from Nairobi.