The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) came under heavy artillery and drone shelling by the Sudanese army on Monday, hitting several RSF targets in the center of the capital, Khartoum, and in the al-Sahafa and Jabra neighborhoods.
In addition, plumes of smoke rose from the Southern Belt and Azhari neighborhoods, south of Khartoum, and the East Nile region, east of the capital Khartoum, the al-Mashhad al-Sudani news portal reported.
On Sunday, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry condemned what it called the "false propaganda" campaign launched by RSF and its supporters inside and outside the African continent in recent days.
According to the ministry's statement, the RSF's campaign involves "deception and hypocrisy" as the leader of the paramilitary forces visited several African countries and claimed his willingness to establish a ceasefire and start peace negotiations with the army. The ministry stressed that such behavior is a threat to the unity of the country.
The ministry stressed that the government is committed to achieving peace, pointing to the existence of a binding legal and political framework to address humanitarian issues, a ceasefire and the start of the peace process, referring to the Jeddah Declaration signed in May 2023.
Violent clashes between the SAF and the RSF erupted in April last year. Since then, the parties have implemented a series of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but none have contributed to a resolution of the conflict. In late October, delegations from both sides resumed negotiations in the Saudi city of Jeddah, but hostilities continued throughout the country. Finally, the Jeddah talks were suspended again after fighting intensified in central Sudan in early December.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said months of fighting in the North African country could lead to disease outbreaks and a catastrophic collapse of the health system. The number of internally displaced people in Sudan has surpassed 7 million, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).