Heavy fighting continues in Khartoum despite truce

Heavy fighting continued to rock Sudan’s capital Saturday even as both sides in the conflict agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire extension this week.

Sudanese airstrikes blasted paramilitary forces in Khartoum as the country’s former prime minister appealed for help to the international community and warned that the conflict in Sudan could become worse than the wars in Syria and Libya.

“Sudan is the largest country in that area, bordering seven countries,” said Abdalla Hamdok, speaking at a conference in Kenya Saturday. “God forbid if Sudan is to reach a point of civil war proper.”

As fighting raged in the capital, refugees who managed to flee massed at Sudan’s border with Egypt where thousands waited to leave the country.

Hundreds of people have already been killed and thousands have fled the bloody conflict in Khartoum and the nearby city of Bahri while many expatriates, including Americans, remained trapped in their homes as the Sudanese army continued to clash with paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.

The army has been deploying jets or drones on RSF in residential neighborhoods across the capital, according to reports.

At least 512 people have been killed and close to 4,200 wounded, according to the United Nations, which estimates that the death toll could be much higher. The Sudan Doctors Union said at least 387 civilians had been killed in Khartoum.

“We hear the sounds of planes and explosions. We don’t know when this hell will end,” Bahri resident Mahasin al-Awad, 65, told Reuters. “We’re in a constant state of fear.”

In the capital, Khartoum, and the neighboring city of Bahri, heavy gunfire and bombs were reported in residential neighborhoods.

The fighting has also led to new clashes in the country’s western Darfur region, where nearly half a million people remain in refugee camps, two decades after a bloody conflict broke out between the Sudanese government and rebel groups.

With Post Wires