Clashes rock Sudan truce
Persistent fighting between Sudan's rival generals undermined efforts to firm up a truce yesterday, as a senior UN official arrived for talks on providing relief to millions of trapped civilians.
The visit by top UN humanitarian official Martin Griffiths comes one day after neighbouring South Sudan announced that the warring sides had agreed "in principle" to a seven-day ceasefire.
Griffiths insisted on the need "to be sure that we have the commitments publicly, clearly given by militaries, to protect humanitarian systems to deliver".
"We will need to have agreement at the highest level and very publicly," he told journalists via video link from Sudan.
Griffiths said he had been informed by the UN's World Food Programme that six trucks bringing aid to the country's western Darfur region had been "looted en route" yesterday, "despite assurances of safety and security".
He said the UN had a plan for delivering the aid and supplies needed to address the dire situation. But "we need access. We need airlifts. We need supplies that don't get looted", he insisted.
"Looting of humanitarian stocks across the country has been a very sad phenomenon of these past weeks."
Deadly violence broke out on April 15 between Sudan's de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who commands the regular army, and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
At least 528 people have been killed and nearly 4,600 wounded, according to the latest health ministry figures, which are likely to be incomplete.
Ten of thousands of Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries in an exodus that has sparked warnings of a humanitarian "catastrophe" with implications for the entire region
The two leaders have agreed multiple truces since the fighting began but none has effectively taken hold. The current truce was extended on Sunday by a further 72 hours and was due to expire yesterday at 2200 GMT.
Despite the truce efforts, witnesses reported warplanes over north Khartoum yesterday and fierce clashes near the state broadcaster's headquarters in the capital's twin city of Omdurman.
"We heard again loud gunfire and anti-aircraft firing at a fighter jet this morning," a resident of south Khartoum said.
Multiple hospitals have been hit, humanitarian facilities looted and foreign aid groups forced to suspend most of their operations.
Saudi Arabia said the premises of its cultural centre in Khartoum were attacked on Tuesday "by an armed group which damaged equipment, cameras and seized some of the mission's property."
The kingdom condemned the raid, calling for de-escalation and an end to the violence.
More than 430,000 civilians have fled their homes, the United Nations said, including 100,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Only 16 percent of Khartoum's hospitals remain fully functional, the UN added.
The failure of the warring generals to abide by their commitments in efforts to end nearly three weeks of fighting has drawn mounting international criticism.
"The two generals, even though they accept the ceasefire, at the same time they continue fighting and shelling the city," complained Ismail Wais of East African regional bloc IGAD.
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