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SUDAN CONFLICT

Start of truce period brings lull in fighting
Saudi, US mediators say pause in clashes will allow for delivery of aid; donors conference to be held in Geneva today
REUTERS, Dubai
The start of a 72-hour ceasefire aimed at calming more than two months of conflict between rival Sudanese military factions brought a lull in clashes in Khartoum early yesterday following battles and air strikes overnight, residents said.
Sudan’s army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to refrain from attacks and from seeking military advantage during the ceasefire period, which started at 6:00 am (0400 GMT), as well as allowing for delivery of aid, Saudi and US mediators said. Several previous truces have failed to stop the fighting.
The power struggle between the two sides has turned the capital into a war zone plagued by looting, led to outbursts of fighting in other regions, and triggered a sharp escalation of violence in Darfur in western Sudan.
In the hours before the truce period began witnesses reported clashes and air strikes in several areas of Khartoum and Omdurman, one of two adjoining cities that make up the wider capital at the confluence of the River Nile.
“The situation in Khartoum is calm, especially because last night there were air strikes and it was terrifying,” 49-year-old resident Salaheldin Ahmed told Reuters by phone yesterday morning, expressing hope that the truce could be the “beginning of the end” of the war.
“We are tired,” he said. “Enough of war, death and looting.”
Previous ceasefires brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States at talks in Jeddah have allowed for the delivery of some humanitarian aid as fighting has subsided, but both sides have repeatedly violated the agreements.
The conflict, which erupted over disputes about a plan for a transition to elections under a civilian government four years after long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir was overthrown during a popular uprising, has intensified since early June.
Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Nations are hosting a donors conference in Geneva tomorrow that aims to attract pledges of funding for humanitarian relief in Sudan.
On Saturday, warplanes struck residential districts of Khartoum, killing “17 civilians, including five children”, according to a citizens’ support committee.
The RSF accused the army of targeting residential areas and claimed to have shot down a fighter jet.
A video the paramilitary forces posted online showed destroyed homes and blankets covering what appeared to be dead bodies, reports AFP.
Since battles began, the death toll across Sudan has topped 2,000, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project says.
The UN says more than half the population of 49 million now needs humanitarian assistance within Sudan, requiring some $3 billion in funding until the end of the year.
It has also appealed for nearly $500 million for the refugee crisis caused by the conflict. More than 500,000 people have fled into countries neighbouring Sudan, in addition to nearly 1.7 million who have been internally displaced.
Intense fighting has rocked the western region of Darfur, with the United States saying as many as 1,100 people have been killed in the West Darfur state capital of El Geneina alone.
The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity issued an urgent call for more beds and staff across the border in Chad, where it said more than 600 patients -- most with gunshot wounds -- had arrived.
Chadian leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno visited the border town of Adre to assess the scale of “the influx of refugees and ensure that the borders with Sudan are effectively closed”, his office said.
The International Organization for Migration says at least 149,000 people have fled from Darfur into Chad, among the roughly 2.2 million uprooted by the fighting.