KHARTOUM: Sudan’s warring sides accused each other on Thursday of being behind breaches of the latest cease-fire that was negotiated by Saudi Arabia and the US, now in its third day.
The one-week truce was violated only minutes after it came into effect on Monday night, with residents of the capital Khartoum reporting air strikes and artillery fire shaking the city.
There have since been further breaches of the cease-fire agreement, which is meant to allow for much-needed humanitarian aid to reach war-ravaged parts of the north African country.
It is the latest in a series of truces that have all been systematically violated.
Since April 15, Sudan’s capital and other parts of the country have been gripped by brutal urban warfare between the regular army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
But though the current cease-fire has been violated, it has allowed for a lull in fighting that has seen frightened residents cautiously venture out of their homes, some for the first time in weeks.
Many have gone out for supplies of food and water or to seek much-needed medical attention after nearly six weeks of fighting that has sharply depleted vital supplies and pushed the health care system to the brink of collapse.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the RSF, which is led by Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, sought to place the blame for cease-fire breaches on the army led by Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The army “launched a series of unwarranted attacks today,” the RSF said, adding that “our forces decisively repelled these assaults.”
“Our forces successfully shot down a SAF MiG jet fighter,” it said, reiterating however that it remained “committed to the humanitarian truce.”
The army responded Thursday morning, saying it had “countered an attack on armored vehicles by the militias of the Rapid Support Forces in a clear violation of the truce.”
The US, who brokered the cease-fire alongside Saudi Arabia, warned the warring parties against any further violations.
The State Department said that observers had detected the use of artillery, drones and military aircraft as well as fighting both in the capital Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur.
“We have continued to see violations of the cease-fire,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
“We retain our sanctions authority and if appropriate we will not hesitate to use that authority.”
The UN envoy for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Tetteh, said the continued fighting was “unacceptable and it must stop.”
Desperately needed aid has yet to reach the capital despite the fighting easing.
The conflict has so far killed more than 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
More than a million Sudanese people have been displaced, in addition to 300,000 who have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.
Conditions have been particularly alarming in Darfur, already ravaged by a conflict that erupted in 2003 and saw then president Omar Al-Bashir unleash the feared Janjaweed militia to crush a rebellion among ethnic minority groups.
The RSF traces its origins to the Janjaweed.
The UN’s refugee coordinator in Sudan, Toby Harward, said the town of Zalengei in Central Darfur state “has been under siege by armed militias for the last days.”
Numerous facilities “have been attacked and looted, civilians are unable to seek medical care as health care facilities are targeted, and gangs on motorcycles intimidate government workers and restrict civilian movements,” he added.
Representatives of the warring Sudanese generals have since early May been involved in negotiations in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
But analysts have repeatedly warned that the two generals are likely prepared for a prolonged conflict.
Sudan expert Alex de Waal described the conflict as being the result of a “calamitous failure of diplomacy.”
Burhan and Daglo had in 2021 staged a coup that unseated a civilian transitional government but later fell out in a bitter power struggle.
Sudan’s warring parties trade blame over truce breach
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Sudan’s warring parties trade blame over truce breach
- Cease-fire deal comes after five weeks of intensive warfare in Khartoum
- Latest in series of truces that have all been systematically violated
Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village threatened after record rains
- The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: Perched on a hill overlooking Carthage, Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said now faces the threat of landslides, after record rainfall tore through parts of its slopes.
Last week, Tunisia saw its heaviest downpour in more than 70 years. The storm killed at least five people, with others still missing.
Narrow streets of this village north of Tunis — famed for its pink bougainvillea and studded wooden doors — were cut off by fallen trees, rocks and thick clay. Even more worryingly for residents, parts of the hillside have broken loose.
“The situation is delicate” and “requires urgent intervention,” Mounir Riabi, the regional director of civil defense in Tunis, recently told AFP.
“Some homes are threatened by imminent danger,” he said.
Authorities have banned heavy vehicles from driving into the village and ordered some businesses and institutions to close, such as the Ennejma Ezzahra museum.
- Scared -
Fifty-year-old Maya, who did not give her full name, said she was forced to leave her century-old family villa after the storm.
“Everything happened very fast,” she recalled. “I was with my mother and, suddenly, extremely violent torrents poured down.”
“I saw a mass of mud rushing toward the house, then the electricity cut off. I was really scared.”
Her Moorish-style villa sustained significant damage.
One worker on site, Said Ben Farhat, said waterlogged earth sliding from the hillside destroyed part of a kitchen wall.
“Another rainstorm and it will be a catastrophe,” he said.
Shop owners said the ban on heavy vehicles was another blow to their businesses, as they usually rely on tourist buses to bring in traffic.
When President Kais Saied visited the village on Wednesday, vendors were heard shouting: “We want to work.”
One trader, Mohamed Fedi, told AFP afterwards there were “no more customers.”
“We have closed shop,” he said, adding that the shops provide a livelihood to some 200 families.
- Highly unstable -
Beyond its famous architecture, the village also bears historical and spiritual significance.
The village was named after a 12th-century Sufi saint, Abu Said Al-Baji, who had established a religious center there. His shrine still sits atop the hill.
The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status.
Experts say solutions to help preserve Sidi Bou Said could include restricting new development, building more retaining walls and improving drainage to prevent runoff from accumulating.
Chokri Yaich, a geologist speaking to Tunisian radio Mosaique FM, said climate change has made protecting the hill increasingly urgent, warning of more storms like last week’s.
The hill’s clay-rich soil loses up to two thirds of its cohesion when saturated with water, making it highly unstable, Yaich explained.
He also pointed to marine erosion and the growing weight of urbanization, saying that construction had increased by about 40 percent over the past three decades.
For now, authorities have yet to announce a protection plan, leaving home and shop owners anxious, as the weather remains unpredictable.
