Reports of gunfire after Sudan’s army declares 3-day truce to mark end of Ramadan

Heavy gunfire erupted in Khartoum late on Friday after Sudan’s army announced a three-day ceasefire after nearly a week of fighting with rival paramilitary forces, witnesses told Reuters news agency.

The source of the gunfire was unclear, witnesses said, adding airstrikes were also heard over time.

Sudan’s army said it had agreed to a ceasefire from Friday, allowing people to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday, after nearly a week of fighting between its forces and rival paramilitary forces.

“The armed forces hope that the rebels will comply with all the terms of the ceasefire and stop any military movements that will hinder them,” an army statement said.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to a ceasefire 72 hours earlier today.

Gunfire crackled without pause all day, punctuated by the thud of artillery and air strikes. Drone footage showed several plumes of smoke over the capital Khartoum and the Nile’s sister cities, along with one of Africa’s largest urban areas.

Soldiers and gunmen from both sides opened fire on each other in neighborhoods across the city, after the army marched for the first time in a nearly week-long battle with the RSF, including during Eid al-Fitr prayers.

The fighting has killed hundreds, mainly in the capital and western Sudan, turning the continent’s third-largest country – where about a quarter of the people already rely on food aid – into a humanitarian disaster.

With airports caught up in the fighting and skies unsafe, countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Spain were unable to evacuate their embassy staff.

There are no evacuation plans for US citizens

The White House said there had been no decision to evacuate American diplomatic personnel, but the US was prepared to do so if necessary.

The US State Department said it has been in contact with several hundred private American citizens who are understood to be in Sudan.

But State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said Friday that U.S. citizens in Sudan should not expect a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation from the country.

Patel told reporters at a press conference that given the closure of Khartoum airport and the uncertain security situation in the country, residents there must make their own arrangements to stay safe.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF) announced on Friday it was ready to partially open Sudan’s airports to air traffic so other countries could evacuate their nationals.

“The Rapid Support Force confirms its full readiness to cooperate, coordinate and provide all facilities that allow expatriates and missions to leave the country safely,” RSF said in a statement.

It is unclear how much RSF controls Sudan’s airports.

Foreigners, aid workers were killed

The State Department said without elaborating that one US citizen in Sudan had been killed.

At least five aid workers have been killed, including three from the World Food Programme, which has since suspended operations in Sudan – one of the world’s largest food aid missions.

A worker for the International Organization for Migration was killed in the town of El Obeid on Friday, after his vehicle was hit by a cross while trying to move his family to safety.

The army has advanced, fighting the RSF on the ground after earlier stalling most of the airstrikes and artillery fire on the capital since the power struggle erupted last weekend.

In a statement, the army said it had begun a “gradual purge of rebel group hotbeds in the capital.”

Holiday is ruined by fear

The Eid al-Fitr holiday is usually a time for many residents of the Sudanese capital to visit relatives outside the city, which is quiet. This year, those who managed to flee from Khartoum, were driven out by the war.

The clashes, which occurred in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, have long cut water and electricity supplies, turned airports into battlegrounds and closed most hospitals.

In many neighborhoods of greater Khartoum, which has a population of more than 10 million, residents have been trapped in their homes, leaving only to find provisions in looted and depleted stores.

Makram Waleed, a 25-year-old doctor, hopes to leave Khartoum with his family but worries about the danger to his three sisters.

“The risk of leaving our home, leaving our belongings, it’s just hard to process,” he said.

Over the past week, more have sought to move to safer areas of the capital – even as the military has closed a bridge over the Nile between Khartoum and the sister cities of Omdurman and Bahri.

Or they have charted the route out, most often Gezira State in the south or Nile State in the north, wheeling suitcases along the streets or balancing bags on their heads when starting the journey.

Ahmed Mubarak, 27, said he felt “very anxious” after the violence erupted on April 15 and before he decided to leave Khartoum on Thursday, taking only the clothes he was wearing.

“There are no buses, people walk, carry bags and move. There are cars passing by, but all private cars and they are all full.”

Eventually he boarded a bus he volunteered to transport people out of the city, and made it as far as Atbara, about 280 kilometers northeast of Khartoum, where he knocked on the door of his family’s home.

“They couldn’t believe it. It was a beautiful moment,” he said.