KHARTOUM: Air strikes again shook Sudan's capital on Monday while the latest truce talks in Jeddah have yielded no progress, with a Saudi diplomat saying both sides consider themselves "capable of winning the battle".
The battles have killed hundreds, wounded thousands and left millions barricaded inside their homes amid dire shortages of water, food and basic supplies.
The feuding generals have sent representatives to Saudi Arabia for talks on establishing a humanitarian truce in an effort also backed by the United States, but to no avail so far.
By Monday, the talks had yielded "no major progress", a Saudi diplomat said speaking on condition of anonymity.
"A permanent ceasefire isn't on the table... Every side believes it is capable of winning the battle," the diplomat added.
In Khartoum, a city of five million, terrified residents reported more combat, now in its fourth week, as they hid out in their homes amid power outages and sweltering heat.
A southern Khartoum resident said that the family could hear "the sound of airstrikes which appeared to come from near a market in central Khartoum".
The fighting has sparked a mass exodus of foreigners and of Sudanese, in both air and sea evacuations and arduous overland journeys to Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and other neighbouring countries.
"It's very dangerous everywhere," said Rawaa Hamad, who escaped from Port Sudan on an evacuation flight to Qatar on Monday carrying 71 people.
In Sudan, she said, there is "no safety now, unfortunately", with its people enduring "a lack of everything -- a lack of water, lack of fuel, lack of medicine, lack of even hospitals and doctors".
The United Nations has warned of a widening humanitarian crisis after fighting has already displaced 335,000 people and created 117,000 refugees.
The UN top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, has travelled to the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, the site of what Washington and Riyadh have labelled "pre-negotiation talks".
Saudi Arabia is pushing for "a timetable for expanded negotiations to reach a permanent cessation of hostilities", its foreign ministry said.
The Jeddah talks, which are set to continue "in the following days", aim to reach "an effective short-term halt" to the fighting, facilitating aid delivery and restoring basic services, it added.
A major breakthrough would be to secure humanitarian corridors to allow aid through Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast to Khartoum and to the strife-torn Darfur region bordering Chad. — AFP
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