Fighting in Sudan continues sporadically despite truce: UN

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - Sporadic clashes continue in Sudan despite a short-term cease-fire between the warring parties, a UN spokesperson said Friday.

"The latest information is that there's still some sporadic fighting. We are not officially monitoring the truce," Stephane Dujarric said at his press briefing when asked about the status of the truce.

"And our humanitarian colleagues are exploiting any lull in the fighting to deliver humanitarian aid, but people in different parts of the country are continuing to suffer tremendously," Dujarric added.

US and its partners on the ground continue to help families displaced by the fighting, alongside the communities hosting them, Dujarric said, detailing the aid delivered by partners to the people in the area.

The UN World Food Program has delivered food and nutrition to over 600,000 people in Sudan, while the World Health Organization has reported that 38 health facilities have been attacked since the beginning of the conflict.

Additionally, in three states in the Darfur region -North, South and East -WFP has reached some 180,000 people.

WFP is also planning to start distributions in central Darfur in the coming days, Dujarric announced.

- Conflict in Sudan and ceasefire

On April 15, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army and the RSF in the capital Khartoum and its surroundings. More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured.

Disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the Sudanese army and the RSF over the RSF's integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

Sudan's transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

The Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group agreed last week to a seven-day truce.