UN urges end to Sudan conflict

UN on Thursday urged countries with influence in Africa to help to end the conflict in Sudan between the army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Clashes rocked Halfaya, an entry point to the capital, early on Thursday as residents heard warplanes circling over Khartoum and adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman.

The fighting, however, appeared calmer than it was on Wednesday.

In public, neither side has shown it was ready to offer concessions to end the conflict that erupted suddenly, threatening to pitch Sudan into a civil war, killing hundreds of people and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Army General Yassir al-Atta was quoted on Thursday saying the talks should aim at removing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from Khartoum, merging its fighters into the regular military and putting its leaders on trial.

“Any dialogue outside those points is simply delaying the war to another time,” he told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, adding that the army had beaten back RSF forces at one key Khartoum location.

The RSF on Wednesday said it held nearly all of Khartoum and accused the army of “unrelenting violations”.

Reuters could not independently verify their accounts.

The talks in the Saudi port of Jeddah represent the most serious effort yet to stop the fighting, and U.S. mediators said on Wednesday they were “cautiously optimistic”.

Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.

On Thursday, the army warned that it would target what it said were RSF fighters in civilian clothes using motorcycles, and warned ordinary residents of the capital not to use the vehicles.