Fighting Ahead Of Sudan Truce
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KHARTOUM (Worthy News) – Sudan’s army on Sunday was resisting attempts by paramilitaries to advance towards its main airbase near Sudan’s capital, residents said.
Air raids, gunfire, and explosions rocked Khartoum ahead of a one-week ceasefire agreed by rival generals, the latest in a series of truces that have been systematically violated, according to witnesses.
The deal, signed on Saturday by the army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, was due to start on Monday evening local time.
An internationally-supported monitoring mechanism was to monitor the truce, allowing the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.
It was to take effect at 9:45 pm local time on Monday, the United States and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement late Saturday. Both parties were involved in truce talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
Yet ceasefire announcements since the conflict started on April 15 failed to stop the fighting, but the Jeddah deal marked the first time the sides signed a truce agreement after negotiations.
Observes said it is unclear whether army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan or RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, can enforce a ceasefire on the ground.
BOTH SEEKING VICTORY
Both have made clear they are seeking nothing less than victory in the war, and neither of them traveled to Jeddah.
Minority Christians are among those anxiously watching whether the ceasefire will bring more peace.
They already faced severe persecution in the Muslim northeastern African nation, Christian aid workers and other sources say.
“Although the death penalty for leaving Islam has now been abolished, there are fears that this punishment could be reinstated,” explained the Christian advocacy group Open Doors.
“The government hasn’t put real protections in place for Christians and other religious minorities.”
Despite the horrors of the fighting in a deserted neighborhood of Khartoum North, Hussein Mohammed hopes that, finally, the guns will silence.
The United Nations says fighting has driven nearly 650,000 Khartoum residents from their homes, but Mohammed has remained, sheltering in place with his sick mother.
“We hope that this time mediators can monitor that the ceasefire is implemented,” he told French news agency AFP.
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