Saudi Arabia and the US, which brokered a 24-hour ceasefire in Sudan, have denounced the resumption of violence after the short truce that had allowed the delivery of some vital humanitarian assistance expired.
“Following the expiration of the short-term ceasefire, facilitators have been deeply disappointed by the immediate resumption of intense violence, which we strongly condemn,” they said in a statement.
Heavy clashes and artillery fire erupted across Sudan's capital Khartoum on Sunday and residents reported air strikes soon after the end of a 24-hour ceasefire that had brought a brief lull to eight weeks of fighting between rival military factions.
Witnesses said the fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces was some of the heaviest in weeks, and included ground battles in the densely populated district of Haj Youssef in Bahri, one of three adjoining cities, along with Khartoum and Omdurman, that make up the capital around the confluence of the River Nile.
Shortly after the ceasefire expired at 6am local time, witnesses said clashes and artillery fire resumed in the north of Omdurman.
They also reported fighting in southern and central Khartoum, and in Shambat, along the Nile, in Bahri up to the strategic Halfiya bridge, which crosses to Omdurman.
“The truce made us relax a bit, but the war and fear are returning today,” said Musab Saleh, 38, a resident of southern Khartoum.
Mohamed Usher, a local activist who visited two sites of artillery shelling in southern Khartoum, said at least 11 civilians had been killed there.
In East Khartoum, six civilians had been killed by the fighting, an activist in that area said.
A record 25 million people – more than half the population – are in need of aid and protection, according to the UN.
Fighting has gripped Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, uprooting about two million people, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, the UN says.
More than 200,000 of those have entered Egypt, mostly by land.
But Cairo on Saturday announced it was toughening requirements for those Sudanese who had previously been exempted from visas – women of all ages, children under 16 and anyone over 50.
Egypt said the new requirements were not designed to “prevent or limit” the entry of Sudanese people, but rather to stop “illegal activities by individuals and groups on the Sudanese side of the border, who forged entry visas” for profit.
