Blasts in Sudan’s capital dim hopes for latest ceasefire deal
The Hindu
Explosions again shook Sudan’s capital on May 23, dimming hopes that a US and Saudi-brokered humanitarian ceasefire will take hold on the ground after more than five weeks of fighting.
Explosions again shook Sudan’s capital on May 23, dimming hopes that a US and Saudi-brokered humanitarian ceasefire will take hold on the ground after more than five weeks of fighting.
The latest, one-week truce formally entered into force late on May 22, but it was quickly violated, like a series of previous such agreements since the war between two rival generals erupted on April 15.
“We can hear the sound of artillery fire,” a Khartoum witness told AFP on May 23. “Every few minutes, there’s a blast.”
Residents had also reported combat in northern Khartoum and air strikes in the east of the capital shortly after the deadline at 9:45 pm (1945 GMT) Monday.
In some parts of Khartoum an uneasy silence held Tuesday as residents desperately hoped for a pause in combat to allow in life-saving humanitarian aid, or to enable more people to flee the embattled city of five million.
The fighting has pitted the army, led by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
The battles have left about 1,000 people dead, forced more than a million to flee their homes and sparked mass evacuations of foreigners and major refugee flows into neighbouring counties.
With a new government in place in Delhi, Singapore hopes to schedule the Ministerial Roundtable with India shortly, says Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. In an exclusive interview, he speaks about the impact of the elections on ties, the “missed opportunity” of RCEP and the new buzz around Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati.