During his visit to Kenya and meeting with the Kenyan President, Deputy Chairman of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council Malik Agar said that Sudan needs effective steps to bring peace under the African umbrella established by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and avoid multiple initiatives.

This coincides with the continuation of clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in several Sudanese areas, including Khartoum, where the correspondent of Al Jazeera reported hearing a strong explosion and warplanes flying in the south of the city this morning, hours after the parties to the conflict announced the extension of the truce reached with Saudi-American mediation on May 20 for an additional 5 days.

Before the end of the previous truce, army warplanes bombed RSF positions around the Halfaya bridge in the capital, and clashes took place in the south and west using various weapons. Al Jazeera correspondent also reported renewed clashes between the two sides in the western city of Nyala.


Welcoming the Truce

Saudi Arabia and the United States welcomed the agreement between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to extend the truce for five days, and the State Department's Office of African Affairs said the extension would provide time for more humanitarian assistance and the restoration of essential services.

He pointed out that the previous armistice agreement enabled the delivery of humanitarian aid to about two million Sudanese, "despite his lack of full respect.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that the parties to the truce agreed to discuss a long-term ceasefire and stressed the need to evacuate hospitals from armed parties.

For his part, spokesman for the political process in Sudan, Khaled Omar Yusuf, welcomed the ceasefire extension agreement, calling for strict adherence to the provisions of the agreement and focusing efforts on addressing the severely deteriorating humanitarian situation after the suffering of the people exceeded all limits, as he put it.

Dafallah Haj Ali, the special envoy of the head of the Sovereign Council in Sudan, also confirmed in an interview with Al Jazeera that the Sudanese government agrees to extend the ceasefire, and that it does not seek war.

Initiatives are now limited to achieving a ceasefire and providing humanitarian aid only, he said, noting that the army is capable of decisiveness but does not use excessive force to save civilian lives.

He also stressed that the Sudanese army does not participate directly in the ongoing negotiations with what he described as "rebels", noting that the Sudanese government is sticking to its opinion on finding a replacement for the UN Secretary-General's envoy to Sudan, Volker Peretz.


Imposed war

Meanwhile, Omdurman commander Col. Mohamed Naji of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said the RSF had been forced to defend itself by war.

He added – according to what was quoted by the Rapid Support Media – that his forces will do everything in their power to achieve the principles of the December revolution and achieve democratic transformation in the country, whatever the cost of sacrifices.

Naji vowed to rein in what he described as criminals and unruly people who violate the sanctity of citizens.

The political adviser to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Youssef Ezzat, also stressed the need to accelerate the ceasefire permanently so that external parties do not have the opportunity to intervene in the Sudanese crisis, he said.

Ezzat confirmed – in remarks to Radio Monte Carlo International – that the Rapid Support Forces did not receive any support from Russia or the paramilitary Wagner Group.

He added that RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti) refuses to deal with these groups, and that the contract with Wagner ended with the fall of Omar al-Bashir's regime.

Targeting hospitals

Humanitarianly, Doctors Around the World said it had monitored the death of a Sudanese doctor with a bullet in the chest and the abduction of three other doctors and taking them to an unknown destination.

The organization added in a statement that it documented the conversion of 3 hospitals into military barracks, namely: Al-Moalem Medical City, Universal Hospital and the Medical Complex of the University of Khartoum, as well as the looting and vandalism of Abdul Fadil Almaz Eye Hospital, which is the central eye hospital in Khartoum.

She called for staying away from hospitals and health facilities as a purely humanitarian issue.

The organization appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Health in Khartoum State, the Sudan Medical Syndicate and medical associations to play their role towards this issue, which affected more than 8 million people in Khartoum State, and to observe humanitarian principles and international conventions.

The director of emergency management at Doctors Around the World, Dr. Mohamed Abdel Rahim, accused the Rapid Support Forces of occupying hospitals and turning them into military barracks.


Displaced

On the other hand, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid announced that the armed confrontations in Sudan forced about one million and 400 thousand people to flee to areas inside and outside Sudan.

Since it erupted on April 15, the conflict in Sudan between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan (Hemedti) has killed hundreds, displaced 1.4 million people internally, and sought refuge in neighboring countries.

According to the Armed Conflicts and Facts Website (ACLED), the death toll since the outbreak of the fighting has reached 1800,<> people, most of them in the capital and in the city of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.