Eid Ceasefire Pleas Fail to Stop Clashes in Sudan

Sudan’s warring forces clashed again in the nation’s capital early Friday, with bombing and shelling reported in several areas of Khartoum, as they ignored appeals by world powers for an end-of-Ramadan ceasefire. Both UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called separately for a ceasefire of “at least” three days to mark Eid al-Fitr in the mostly Muslim country, as explosions and gunfire resounded in the capital Khartoum for the sixth straight night. “On the night of Eid al-Fitr, several areas of Khartoum were bombed and are still exposed to shelling and clashes between the armed forces and the RSF,” the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said in a statement. “We hope that we will come out of this ordeal more united… a single army, a single people… towards a civilian power.” After two ceasefires failed to take hold in two days, gunfire continued Thursday night, with columns of black smoke rising from buildings around Khartoum International Airport and the army headquarters. Ahmed al-Mandhari of the World Health Organization said Thursday that “almost 330 people have died and almost 3,200 more” had been wounded in Khartoum, the western Darfur region and other states.