Sudan’s Army Agrees to Three-Day Truce to Mark Eid

In this photo provided by Maheen S , smoke fills the sky in Khartoum, Sudan, near Doha International Hospital on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Maheen S via AP)
In this photo provided by Maheen S , smoke fills the sky in Khartoum, Sudan, near Doha International Hospital on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Maheen S via AP)
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Sudan’s Army Agrees to Three-Day Truce to Mark Eid

In this photo provided by Maheen S , smoke fills the sky in Khartoum, Sudan, near Doha International Hospital on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Maheen S via AP)
In this photo provided by Maheen S , smoke fills the sky in Khartoum, Sudan, near Doha International Hospital on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Maheen S via AP)

Sudan's army said it had agreed to a three-day truce starting on Friday to enable people to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr following almost a week of fighting between its troops and a rival paramilitary force.

"The armed forces hope that the rebels will abide by all the requirements of the truce and stop any military moves that would obstruct it," an army statement said.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to the 72-hour truce earlier in the day.

Gunfire tore through residential neighborhoods of the capital Khartoum after the army deployed on foot for the first time in its almost week-long fight with the RSF.

Soldiers and gunmen from the RSF shot at each other in neighborhoods across the city, including during the call for special early morning Eid prayers.

It was not immediately clear when the truce would begin. Gunfire crackled without pause all day, punctuated by the thud of artillery and air strikes. Drone footage showed several plumes of smoke across Khartoum and its Nile sister cities, together one of Africa's biggest urban areas.

The fighting has killed hundreds, mainly in the capital and the west of Sudan, tipping the continent's third-largest country - where about a quarter of people already relied on food aid - into a humanitarian disaster.

With the airport caught in the fighting and the skies unsafe, nations including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Spain have been unable to evacuate embassy staff.

In Washington, the US State Department said without elaborating that one US citizen in Sudan had been killed. The White House said no decision yet had been made to evacuate American diplomatic personnel but the US was preparing for such an eventuality if it becomes necessary.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the United States was sending a large number of additional troops to its base in Djibouti in case of an eventual evacuation from Sudan.

At least five aid workers have been killed, including three from the World Food Program, which has since suspended its Sudan operation - one of the world's largest food aid missions.

A worker at the International Organization for Migration was killed in the city of El Obeid on Friday, after his vehicle was hit by crossfire as he tried to move his family to safety.

The army has pressed forward, fighting the RSF on the ground after having previously stuck largely to air strikes and artillery shelling across the capital since the power struggle erupted last weekend.

In a statement, the army said it had begun "the gradual cleaning of hotbeds of rebel groups around the capital".



UN Human Rights Office Concerned About Israeli Strikes on Civilians in Lebanon 

Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. (Reuters) 
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. (Reuters) 
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UN Human Rights Office Concerned About Israeli Strikes on Civilians in Lebanon 

Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. (Reuters) 
Smoke rises above south Lebanon following an Israeli strike amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, May 5, 2024. (Reuters) 

The United Nations human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire.

"Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians," the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

At least 71 civilians - including 14 women and nine children - have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon, since the ceasefire came into effect on 27 November last year, and 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR.

"We are calling for investigations into all allegations of violations...Each and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated," Al-Kheetan said.

"The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region," he added.