KHARTOUM: UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday that he was seeking assurances from the warring factions in Sudan to safeguard the delivery of humanitarian assistance hours after air strikes in Khartoum undermined a new ceasefire.
"We will still require agreements and arrangements to allow for movement of staff and supplies," he said from Port Sudan, where many people have fled as the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have battled for three weeks.
"We will need to have agreement at the highest level and very publicly and we will need to deliver those commitments into local arrangements that can be depended on," he told reporters via video link from Port Sudan.
Air strikes were heard in Khartoum on Wednesday, a witness said, even as warring factions agreed to a new seven-day ceasefire from Thursday, weakening chances for a lasting truce.
The conflict has created a humanitarian crisis, with about 100,000 people forced to flee with little food or water to neighbouring countries, the United Nations said.
Aid deliveries have been held up in a nation where about one-third of people already relied on humanitarian assistance. A broader disaster could be in the making as Sudan's impoverished neighbours grapple with the influx of refugees.
Previous ceasefire agreements between the army and a paramilitary force, whose power struggle erupted into full blown conflict in mid-April, have ranged from 24 to 72 hours, but none have been fully observed.
Tens of thousands of people have left Khartoum area and its adjoining cities, fearful of both airstrikes and soldiers from the paramilitary RSF.
Caught between army airstrikes overhead and RSF soldiers on the ground, many citizens feel forced to take sides.
THIRD WEEK OF FIGHTING
South Sudan's foreign ministry said on Tuesday that mediation championed by its president, Salva Kiir, had led both sides to agree a week long truce from Thursday to May 11 and to name envoys for peace talks. The current ceasefire was due to expire on Wednesday.
It was unclear, however, how army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo would proceed.
Army jets have been bombing RSF units dug into residential districts of the capital region. — Reuters
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