THE United Nations urged Sudan’s warring generals to honour a seven-day ceasefire that began on Monday night.

But residents reported that sporadic fighting was still taking place today in the capital Khartoum and in other parts of the country.

Sudan descended into chaos after fighting erupted in mid-April between the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

The fighting has so far killed more than 700 people and left thousands wounded.

Khartoum and other urban areas have been turned into battlefields.

Early on, foreign governments raced to evacuate their diplomats and nationals as thousands of foreign residents scrambled to get out of Sudan. 

More than a million Sudanese people have been forced from their homes by the fighting.

Over the past weeks, the United States and Saudi Arabia have been mediating talks in the kingdom between the two sides. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier today urged Sudan’s rival generals to abide by the seventh attempt to bring about a ceasefire or face possible sanctions.

Describing the fighting as “tragic, senseless and devastating,” Mr Blinken said: “If the ceasefire is violated, we’ll know and we will hold violators accountable through sanctions and other means.”

The UN warned that the growing ethnic dimension to the fighting risks engulfing Sudan in a prolonged conflict.

Speaking at a meeting of the UN security council on Monday, the UN envoy for Sudan Volker Perthes called on both sides to stop the fighting so that humanitarian aid can get to those in need and civilians caught in the fighting can leave safely.

Mr Perthes also expressed concern about the worrying ethnic dimension to the war, most visible in the restive Darfur region.

In the early 2000s, African communities from Darfur that had long complained of discrimination rebelled against the Khartoum government, which responded with a military campaign that the International Criminal Court later said amounted to genocide. 

Mr Perthes told the security council that in El Geneina in West Darfur clashes between the rival forces spiralled into ethnic violence on April 24, with tribal militias joining the fighting.

He reported that some 450 civilians were killed in that outbreak of fighting.

State-backed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed were accused of widespread killings, rapes and other atrocities. Many of its fighters were later folded into the RSF.

Reports of sexual violence against women and girls, including rapes in Khartoum and Darfur, are being followed up by the UN, Mr Perthes said.