More fighting amid fresh ceasefire offer in Sudanese conflict

After several failed attempts at a truce, another ceasefire was offered Friday in the conflict between rival military groups in Sudan's capital Khartoum.
The Sudanese armed forces said on Friday evening that they had agreed to a three-day ceasefire. It was to come into force on Friday so that citizens could celebrate the Eid holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the army said in a Facebook message.
The military did not give an exact time for the start of a possible ceasefire, and there was initially no confirmation from the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Residents hunkered down amid continuing fighting on the Eid holiday Friday. According to media and eyewitnesses, heavy airstrikes and rocket fire were reported from Khartoum.
The air force of the Sudanese army fired on targets in the centre and north of the city and in the neighbouring city of Omdurman on the other side of the Nile river. The attacks were again carried out in the immediate vicinity of densely populated residential areas. Khartoum's airport was also targeted.
Clashes have been ongoing for almost a week now. For days, the international community has been pushing for a humanitarian ceasefire, which has so far always been thwarted. It is estimated that around 6 million people live in the Khartoum area.
At least 413 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured by the fighting in Sudan since the weekend, according to the latest figures by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Many hospitals have been forced to close.
Earlier, the RSF agreed to a ceasefire from 0400 GMT on Friday morning. However, the rival Sudanese military did not issue a confirmation of the ceasefire.
In his first video message since the fighting began last weekend, the country's de facto president and leader of the Sudanese army, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced on Friday morning that he still wanted to hand over power to a civilian government.
Khartoum residents, who have been trapped in their homes for the last seven days, reported on social media of heavier fighting on Friday.
"The lyrical sound of the extended Eid prayer is punctuated by the grotesque staccato of bombardment/return fire. Whatever hopes there were that #Sudan's generals may grant humanitarian reprieve for this holy day have been dashed," Sudanese citizen Kholood Khair wrote on Twitter.
Ahmed Shaweesh, who lives in Khartoum, spoke of an "escalation of the war." He said the army and RSF fought each other with heavy weapons, bombs and artillery across Khartoum on Thursday night.
"The capital is experiencing its most terrible and difficult night," Shaweesh said, lamenting the fact that people were meant to be spending the religious holiday celebrating with family.
Another Sudanese citizen, Afnan Hassab, reported that she has been forced to hide out in the basement of her flat several times due to airstrikes amid trying to prepare for Eid.
"There is no normality anymore. What is happening is the new norm for now," another Twitter user named Dallia wrote. Khartoum, she said, had become a ghost town, its streets lined with corpses.
Sudan's Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim spoke on Friday of "a very high number of dead bodies in the streets."
Tens of thousands of civilians are stuck in their homes, many without electricity or running water, according to the United Nations. Food, fuel and medicines were running out, it said.
The UN special representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, said in an Eid message he hopes that Sudan and its people will overcome the crisis and face a better future of peace, stability and prosperity.
Media reported renewed bombardments in the capital starting on Friday morning, while Sudanese army soldiers were reported to have combed through residential areas. Shots and explosions were heard in Khartoum on Friday evening, according to media and eyewitness reports.
The US Department of Defence announced earlier that it had moved additional military units to neighbouring countries to facilitate the evacuation of its embassy staff.
John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said that a decision has not yet been made on the evacuation.
Earlier, the US State Department had confirmed the death of a US citizen in Sudan. Details about the identity of the killed man were not initially released.
German armed forces are similarly beginning preparations for a renewed attempt to evacuate German citizens from Sudan, a Defence Ministry spokesman told dpa on Friday. At least 150 German citizens are reportedly stranded in Sudan.
The army had attempted the evacuation mission on Wednesday, but the security risk was deemed too severe.
The fighting is between Sudan's two most powerful generals - al-Burhan and his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo - and their respective military units.
The two men have led the north-eastern African country of around 46 million people since a joint military coup in 2021.
Heavy fighting between the military and paramilitaries also continued in the rest of the north-east African country on Friday.
Another United Nations employee was killed in the fighting on Friday, according to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva.
The accident happened in Obeid, almost 400 kilometers south-west of Khartoum. Three employees of the World Food Programme died in North Dafur on Saturday. The organization then halted its work in Sudan for security reasons.