Renewed artillery exchanges rocked greater Khartoum early Wednesday as Sudan's warring generals resumed fighting just minutes after the latest US and Saudi-brokered ceasefire expired.
Already on Tuesday evening, an immense fire had engulfed the intelligence service's headquarters in the capital Khartoum with each side accusing the other of attacking it in violation of the 72-hour truce.
A source within the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accused rival paramilitaries loyal to his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo of shelling the building.
A source within the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said an "army drone bombed the building where RSF fighters had gathered, sparking a fire and the partial destruction of the intelligence headquarters".
On Wednesday morning, residents of Omdurman, just across the Nile from Khartoum, reported heavy artillery exchanges within minutes of the ceasefire expiring at 6:00 am (0400 GMT).
Army warplanes flew low over several adjacent districts, the residents said.
Nationwide, more than 2,000 people have been killed since the power struggle between Burhan and Daglo erupted into fighting on April 15, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said.
More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes, of whom around 550,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, fled abroad, according to the International Organization for Migration.
- Bodies on city streets -
According to the US State Department, up to 1,100 people have been killed in the West Darfur state capital El Geneina alone.
Bodies have remained on the streets of the city, where months of unrest have left shops either vacant or gutted by looters.
Residents have fled en masse, grabbing whatever they could to escape to the border with Chad. At least 150,000 people have fled Darfur into Chad since the start of fighting, according to the UN.
Some described being shot at by fighters and subject to searches during the perilous journey.
The United Nations has spoken of possible "crimes against humanity" in Darfur as the conflict has "taken an ethnic dimension" in a region still reeling from a 2003 rebellion among non-Arab minorities that prompted then-strongman Omar al-Bashir to recruit the Arab Janjaweed militia, whose actions led to charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Washington has said the RSF, which traces its origins to the Janjaweed, is "primarily" responsible for recent "atrocities" in Darfur, which is home to a quarter of Sudan's population.
In an audio recording Tuesday, Daglo denounced what he called "a tribal conflict" in El Geneina, claiming to have ordered his men "not to intervene" and accusing the army of "creating sedition by distributing weapons" to civilians.
- 'Fleeing for their lives' -
Monday's donors' conference raised close to $1.5 billion in aid pledges for Sudan and neighbouring countries, but organisers said that amounted to only half of the estimated needs.
UN chief Antonio Guterres warned "the scale and speed of Sudan's descent into death and destruction is unprecedented."
"Without strong international support, Sudan could quickly become a locus of lawlessness, radiating insecurity across the region," he said.
In an interview with AFP Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged neighbouring countries to keep their borders open to Sudanese refugees despite concerns the violence and lawlessness could spill over.
"My appeal to all the neighbouring countries is to say I understand your security concerns, but please keep your borders open because these people are really fleeing for their lives," he said.
© Agence France-Presse
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.
Source: Story.KISSPR.com