THERE were reports of sporadic clashes in Khartoum today between the military and a rival paramilitary force as residents of the Sudanese capital face a growing humanitarian crisis.

The continued fighting between forces loyal to the two generals, army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan and Rapid Support Forces commander Mohammed Hamdan Dagalothe, came on the second day of a three-day truce between the warring parties.

Many residents of the capital emerged from their homes to seek food and water, lining up at bakeries or grocery stores, witnesses said. 

Some inspected shops or homes that had been destroyed or looted during the fighting. Others joined the tens of thousands who have been streaming out of the city in recent days.

“There is a sense of calm in my area and neighbourhoods,” said Mahasen Ali, a tea vendor who lives in south Khartoum. “But all are afraid of what’s next.” 

The fighting has pushed the population to near breaking point, with food growing more difficult to obtain, electricity cut off across much of the capital and other cities and many hospitals shut down.

In a country where a third of the population of 46 million already needed humanitarian assistance, multiple aid agencies have had to suspend operations. 

The United Nations refugee agency said that it was gearing up for potentially tens of thousands of people fleeing into neighbouring countries.

Both sides have so far ignored calls for negotiations to end the crisis and have seemed determined to crush each other.

At least 459 people have so far been reported killed, and over 4,000 wounded since fighting began, the UN health agency said, citing Sudan’s Health Ministry. 

Joyce Msuya, the assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told the UN security council on Tuesday that “there have been numerous reports of sexual and gender-based violence.”

Ms Msuya said the UN has also received reports “of tens of thousands of people arriving in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.”

Meanwhile, Ahmed Haroun, who was being held in Kober prison in Khartoum and who faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, has revealed that he is no longer in custody.

He told local media that he would appear before the courts when they began functioning again.

He said that he had made the decision to protect himself “due to a lack of security, water, food and treatment, as well as the death of many prisoners,” in Kober.