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Explosions have been heard near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it would agree to a humanitarian ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Residents in Khartoum, which is controlled by the army, told the AFP news agency that they were woken overnight by the sound of drones and explosions.<\/p>\n
The blasts appeared to take place near a military base and a power station in the early hours of Friday morning, the residents said.<\/p>\n
The RSF has not addressed these accounts, but Sudan’s military-led government said it would be wary of agreeing to a truce as the group did not “respect” ceasefires.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The two sides have been embroiled in a civil war that has killed at least 150,000 people and forced 12 million others from their homes since it erupted in April 2023.<\/p>\n
This week a UN-backed global hunger monitor confirmed that famine conditions were spreading in conflict zones.<\/p>\n
On Friday, drones were heard not only in Khartoum, but also 300km (186 miles) north of the city, in the military-controlled town of Atbara.<\/p>\n
“Anti-aircraft defences shot them down, but I saw fires breaking out and heard sounds of explosions in the east of the city,” a resident there told AFP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The day before, the RSF announced it had agreed to a humanitarian truce<\/a> proposed by the US, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Egypt.<\/p>\n The four countries put forward the plan in September – and said it should be followed by a permanent ceasefire and a transition to civilian rule.<\/p>\n At the time the Sudanese government rejected “foreign interference” and any attempts that equated it with a “racist terrorist militia that relies on foreign mercenaries”.<\/p>\n It is not clear if the proposal has been modified since then.<\/p>\n But during a press conference on Friday, Sudan’s ambassador to South Africa said it was too early for his country to agree to the plan.<\/p>\n “From our experience, we had many truces at the beginning of the war but every time there was no respect from [the RSF],” Osman Abufatima Adam Mohammed said.<\/p>\n “They use these truces to move to new areas and make moves against the government.”<\/p>\n The ambassador opposed the UAE’s presence at the ceasefire talks, repeating his government’s allegation that the Gulf nation was supplying the RSF with weapons and foreign fighters.<\/p>\n UN experts say accusations of such military support are credible, but the UAE has denied all involvement with the RSF.<\/p>\n The RSF and the military have agreed to ceasefire proposals before, but none have stuck.<\/p>\n This time, the RSF waited until it had finally seized el-Fasher, a key city that it had been blockading for 18 months, before announcing it was on board with the truce.<\/p>\n Now that the paramilitary group has consolidated control over el-Fasher and, consequently, the vast wider western region of Darfur, it may have greater leverage in future ceasefire negotiations.<\/p>\n But the RSF is also facing an international backlash against widespread reports of mass killings and sexual violence<\/a> during the fall of el-Fasher, which it has denied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n