All quiet in Khartoum as ceasefire takes hold

The Sudanese capital Khartoum was relatively calm on Saturday morning as a US and Saudi-brokered 24-hour ceasefire took effect, providing a window for humanitarian assistance and giving the public a break from the intense fighting.Khartoum residents welcomed the lull in the fighting, but few believed it would hold."Since the war started, this is the first time hours go by and we don’t hear the sound of guns,” said Hamed Ibrahim, adding that "today was completely different” in his east Khartoum neighbourhood.The short ceasefire follows a string of violated truces between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whose power struggle erupted into violence eight weeks ago, sparking a humanitarian crisis.The US and Saudi Arabia said they shared "frustration” over the violations in a statement announcing the latest truce, and they threatened to adjourn the talks, which have continued indirectly, if fighting continues.The fighting has turned the metropolitan area including Khartoum and its sister cities Bahri and Omdurman into a war zone, and led to conflict in the Darfur and Kordofan regions to the west.Sudan specialist Aly Verjee said he saw little reason why this truce should be any better than its predecessors."It’s hard to see that a truce with the same underlying assumptions, especially one of such short duration, will see a substantially different result,” said Verjee, a researcher at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.Before the start of the truce at 6am (0400 GMT), residents reported anti-aircraft missiles firing in southern Khartoum and the Sharg el-Nil district across the Nile, which also saw air strikes.The air strikes and artillery bombardments that have rocked greater Khartoum almost daily subsided at least temporarily yesterday, allowing trapped civilians to venture outdoors to buy desperately needed supplies."Today we have witnessed a total calm,” said Othman Hamed, a resident of the capital’s sister city Omdurman, just across the Nile.In one Khartoum market, people were seen scrambling to stock up on fruit and other basic goods."The truce is a chance for us to get some food supplies after we lived on rationed quantities in recent days,” said one of the shoppers, Mohamed Radwan.Hajar Youssef said she had gone out in search of an open pharmacy to buy insulin for her mother, who has diabetes. "Unfortunately, I did not find one.”Many people expressed disappointment that the promised ceasefire was so limited in scope."A one-day truce is much less than we aspire for,” said Khartoum North resident Mahmud Bashir. "We look forward to an end to this damned war.”Bus station employee Ali Issa said many people were using the truce to flee the capital for the relative safety of the provinces."Today, numbers ... have risen significantly, maybe even doubled,” he said.The fighting has displaced more than 1.9mn people, 200,000 or more of whom have crossed the border into Egypt.Those who have taken the long journey have complained of poor conditions and long wait times.Yesterday two people attempting to cross the Ashkeit border said they had been turned back as a new rule had come into effect requiring all Sudanese to obtain a visa before entering Egypt, reversing a long-time exemption for women, children, and the elderly (see accompanying report)."We spent two nights in the neutral territory and now they are turning us back,” said Sundus Abbas, a doctor speaking to Reuters by phone from between the countries’ checkpoints."Some people are refusing to leave,” she said.Confirming the new rule, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said authorities had detected "the spread of unlawful activities by some individuals and groups on the Sudanese side” including issuing fraudulent visas.Egypt did not aim to prohibit entry but to organise it, he said, adding the necessary equipment had been provided for the visas to be issued promptly.In the week since the last ceasefire lapsed on June 3 there has been intense fighting, including around crucial army bases.The US State Department said late on Friday that it was supporting a platform called the Sudan Conflict Observatory that would release results of satellite monitoring of the fighting and ceasefires.An initial report by the observatory documented "widespread and targeted” destruction of water, power and telecommunications facilities.It also documented eight "systematic” arson attacks that razed villages in Darfur and several attacks on schools, mosques and other public buildings in El Geneina, country’s westernmost city, which has seen fierce militia attacks amid a telecom blackout.A doctors’ union in the city called it a "ghost town” and alleged several human rights abuses, including blockading the city, depriving civilians of water, and killing the elderly.Citizens have said that some of the men who have attacked the city wore RSF uniforms.Previous ceasefires had allowed some humanitarian access, but aid agencies reported still being impeded by the fighting, bureaucratic control and looting.Medical aid agency MSF said yesterday that its staff had been stopped by RSF soldiers and "obliged” to make a statement that was later circulated by the forces.Sudan’s army and the RSF, a parallel force that has operated legally since 2017, fell out over plans to integrate their troops and reorganise their chain of command as part of a transition toward civilian rule four years after a popular uprising ousted strongman president Omar al-Bashir.