From a previous army bombing on Rapid Support sites in Khartoum (Reuters)

On Monday, the Sudanese army bombed the headquarters of the Rapid Support Forces in the capital, Khartoum, insisting that they leave the cities before agreeing to a truce in Ramadan, while a civil organization issued a report on cases of rape and sexual violence in some combat areas.

Al Jazeera's correspondent said that army artillery stationed in Omdurman bombed positions of the Rapid Support Forces in a number of neighborhoods of the capital, Khartoum.

Local sources told Al Jazeera that they heard strong explosions this morning in the Nahda neighborhood and around the sites of the Rapid Support Forces, the Sports City, and the camp grounds, south of Khartoum.

These developments come days after a decision issued by the UN Security Council to stop fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces during the month of Ramadan.

Lieutenant General Yasser Al-Atta, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Army, said in a statement that there will be no truce in Sudan during the month of Ramadan unless the Rapid Support Forces withdraw from the cities.

The statement also stated that neither the Rapid Support Commander, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo Hemedti, nor his family should have any political or military role in Sudan in the future.

At a ceremony marking the graduation of new batches of the army, Al-Atta said, “There will be no truce in Ramadan unless the militia implements the Jeddah Agreement, which was signed in May 2023, by leaving homes and civilian objects.”

The war broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April.

The United Nations says that nearly 25 million people, or half of Sudan's population, are in need of aid, and about 8 million have fled their homes in light of increasing rates of hunger.

Washington says both sides of the conflict committed war crimes.

Confirm and deny

In a related context, the Sudanese army said that it had not received from the International Committee of the Red Cross any information that the Rapid Support Forces had released 537 captured officers and soldiers of the regular forces.

Army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said that they had not received any communications or correspondence from the Red Cross regarding the release of prisoners, and accused the Rapid Support of lying and fabrication.

The spokesman for the Rapid Support Forces, Al-Fatih Qureshi, said in a statement that they had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to complete the procedures for releasing 537 army officers and soldiers, but the latter refused to receive them.

Documenting rape

On the human rights side, a report by the “Together Against Rape and Sexual Violence” campaign said that 81 cases of rape were documented, most of them in Al-Jazeera State in central Sudan.

According to the campaign’s report, 32% of rape cases involve minors.

Most of these documented cases were concentrated in Gezira State, with 43% of rape cases recorded during the reporting period, while Central Darfur State recorded 27%, White Nile State 13%, North Darfur State 11%, and Khartoum State 6%.

The report said that these statistics illustrate the tragic reality in Sudan during the period from December 15 to February 29.

The report indicated that stopping the war remains a top priority, because violence and conflict are the main reason behind the worsening cases of rape in the affected areas.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies