KHARTOUM, Sudan—A 24-hour cease-fire reportedly reached between Sudan’s rival generals went into effect on Tuesday, but fighting continued in the capital and it was unclear whether it would hold.
Residents said they still heard gunfire and explosions in different parts of Khartoum, particularly around the military’s headquarters and the Republican Palace, the seat of power. They said few people had ventured out, though there were crowds outside some bakeries.
“The fighting remains underway,” Atiya Abdulla Atiya of the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate told The Associated Press. “We are hearing constant gunfire.”
The truce between Sudan’s military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) came into effect at 6 p.m. local time on the fourth day of heavy fighting. The RSF immediately accused the military of violating the cease-fire, while there was no comment from the army.
The two sides had continued fighting each other in the streets of Khartoum throughout the day, underscoring the fragility of efforts to bring even a pause in the intensifying violence that has raised the specter of civil war in Africa’s third largest nation.
Millions of Sudanese in the capital and in other cities have been hiding in their homes, caught in the crossfire as rival forces pounded residential areas with artillery and airstrikes and engaged in gunbattles outside. Residents have spoken of bodies of the dead left lying in the streets, unreachable because of clashes, pointing to a toll that is likely to be far higher than the 185 dead reported so far by the U.N. since fighting began Saturday.
Over the past day, fighters in Khartoum attacked a U.S. Embassy convoy and stormed the home of the EU envoy to Sudan, though neither attack caused casualties. The convoy of clearly marked U.S. Embassy vehicles was attacked Monday, and preliminary reports link the assailants to the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group battling Sudan’s military, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters. Everyone in the convoy was safe, he said.
The violence comes as the Sudanese were trying to revive the drive for a democratic, civilian government after decades of military rule. Amid increasing alarm, Blinken had stepped up efforts for a cease-fire.
He spoke by phone late Monday separately with the two rival generals—armed forces chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and RSF leader Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo—seeking a 24-hour halt in fighting as a foundation for a longer truce and return to negotiations.
Dagalo said in a series of tweets Tuesday that he had approved a 24-hour humanitarian truce after speaking to Blinken.
