Sudan: rare respite from fighting in Khartoum under truce

For the first time, the truce between the belligerents was respected. Since Saturday morning, 10 June, calm has returned to Khartoum, the epicentre of fighting since clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces began two months ago. The national ceasefire is supposed to last only 24 hours, it is very short, but it represents a salutary respite for the populations.

Khartoum residents stock up at the market during a day of calm in the fighting, June 10, 2023. AFP--

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The camps of the two warring generals have agreed to a 24-hour truce, starting at 06:4 Khartoum time (<>:<> GMT), announced Friday the Saudi mediator, who has been hosting negotiations for weeks. Apparently, the warring parties took seriously the warning of the Saudi and American mediators that they were considering postponing negotiations if this new ceasefire was not respected.

Because unlike the successive truces announced since the beginning of the conflict, this is the first time that the shots and explosions have fallen silent in Khartoum. This Saturday, the inhabitants of the Sudanese capital took advantage of this break to leave their homes and stock up on food and medicine. Many simply packed up and left the city, which concentrates most of the fighting, with the Darfur region.

The ceasefire lasts only 24 hours, to allow "the arrival of humanitarian aid," says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The General Command of the Armed Forces, however, said it reserved the "right to respond to any violation that the rebels may commit." "We reiterate our full commitment to the ceasefire," the paramilitaries said.

Two million displaced

The war, which broke out almost two months ago, has already killed more than 1,800 people, according to Acled, an organization that specializes in gathering information in conflict zones, as well as two million displaced people and refugees, according to the UN. Since the beginning of the conflict, hundreds of Sudanese have fled every day to neighbouring Chad, South Sudan, and the majority of them to Egypt.

Omar Salman, a 31-year-old Sudanese doctor, fled Khartoum to Cairo. The Royal Care Hospital where he worked has closed, like most hospitals in the capital (only 20% of them are still functional, according to the ICRC), bombed or occupied by the belligerents. In the midst of the fighting, and without a supply of food, it had become impossible for him to survive anyway.

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I left Khartoum alone, with a backpack and some of the money my family had transferred to me," says the doctor. Because you have to take several buses to reach the city of Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border, it is very expensive. On the roads, the RSF are very aggressive: they searched me entirely. Sometimes they can hit you, insult you. When I arrived in Wadi Halfa, I waited seven days to get my visa.

Long delays, due to the mistrust of the Egyptian authorities, says Omar Salman. "Many prisoners have escaped to Sudan, so the Egyptian authorities want to make sure they don't let dangerous people into their territory," he said. The delays are long. There are many elderly people, sometimes sick. I saw five die before I could cross the border. Here in Cairo, there are so many Sudanese that rents cost 10 times more than usual. I was lucky enough to find a small apartment, which does the trick.

>> Read also: Sudan: Washington announces sanctions against companies linked to the army and the RSF

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