THE warring factions in Sudan have been urged to extend a ceasefire which is due to expire tomorrow.

The Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force battling for control of Sudan since mid-April agreed last week to the weeklong truce brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia. 

However, the ceasefire, like others before it, did not stop the fighting in the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

In a joint statement earrlier today, the US and Saudi Arabia called for an extension of the current truce which expires this evening.

“While imperfect, an extension nonetheless will facilitate the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the Sudanese people,” the statement said.

The statement also urged Sudan’s military government and the rival Rapid Support Forces to continue negotiations.

The fighting broke out in mid-April between the military and the powerful RSF. 

Both military chief General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF leader General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo led the 2021 coup that removed the Western-backed government of prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.

The fighting has turned Khartoum and the adjacent city of Omdurman into a battleground and the clashes have spread elsewhere in the country, including the already war-wracked Darfur region.

About 800 people have been killed, thousands wounded, and the conflict has pushed the country to near-collapse. More than 1.3 million people have fled their homes to safer areas in Sudan or to neighbouring nations.

Residents reported renewed sporadic clashes earlier today in parts of Omdurman, where the army’s aircraft were seen flying over the city. 

Fighting was also reported in al-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur.

The US-Saudi statement came two days after Gen Burhan demanded in a letter to United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres that the UN envoy to his country, Volker Perthes, be removed. Mr Perthes has been a key mediator in efforts to end the fighting.

Gen Burhan’s letter came after Mr Perthes accused the warring parties of disregarding the laws of war by attacking homes, shops, places of worship and water and electricity installations.

In his briefing to the UN security council last week, Mr Perthes blamed the leaders of the military and the RSF for the war, saying that they have chosen to “settle their unresolved conflict on the battlefield rather than at the table.”

A spokesman said Mr Guterres was shocked by the letter.