By Sylvia Chebet
The ceaseless rat-a-tat of gunfire, homes engulfed in flames, and the relatively less common sight of debris from a shot-down warplane falling off the sky has shaken the city of Omdurman, northwest of Sudan's capital Khartoum, as fresh clashes between the Sudanese army and rival forces end a short-lived festival lull.
So, was the ceasefire during Eid a mirage intended to lead to more misery for a population silenced into submission by booming gunfire?
On July 4 alone, one hospital received more than 100 wounded civilians as the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fought in Omdurman, the Sudan War Monitor said, citing local emergency services.
Al-Nou Hospital, located a few kilometres north of the frontline, also reported casualties during clashes in some neighbouring areas.
The Volunteer Initiative to Support Al-Nou Hospital posted an urgent appeal on its Facebook page, stating that the situation in the facility was currently "a disaster".
"Since morning, Al Nou Hospital has suffered a severe shortage of personnel, medical supplies and life-saving medicines due to the powerful clashes that have been going on since dawn, and with serious injuries, the situation has become catastrophic," the post read.
The preliminary committee of the Sudan Doctors Union urged medical staff to go to Al-Nou Hospital to offer support, saying there was a dire need for specialised surgeons as well as essential supplies such as surgical gauze and anesthesia.
War games
As the sights and sounds of war returned to haunt parts of Khartoum, coinciding with Eid festivities winding down, the thought of the ceasefire being a subterfuge hit home harder than ever.
The fighting in Omdurman from July 2-4 was reportedly more intense than it had been for weeks. Some observers even called it the fiercest since the war began.
The Sudan War Monitor reported that a bomb hit homes on Al-Radamia Street on July 3, killing three people and injuring five.
"At this moment, all we hear are the sound of bullets. I don't know what is going on," Abulgassim Ibrahim Hassan, a Khartoum’s Al-Taif area resident, told TRT Afrika.
The previous Sunday, another Khartoum resident said he was woken from his sleep by the cacophony of "violent fighting". Yet another said he rose from bed to the roaring sound of warplanes.
Ceasefire violations
A ceasefire is often announced as part of a peace process, suggesting a level of commitment between rival parties to seek an end to any armed conflict.
Experts in peace and conflict resolution, however, reckon a ceasefire is occasionally violated deliberately for reasons ranging from provocation to strategy.
“In some instances, warring parties declare a ceasefire for tactical reasons, to re-arm, to rejuvenate and even to recruit, if they feel that their troops are dwindling or the morale is low. But, of course, they don’t declare this," Dr Mustafa Yusuf Ali, chairperson of the Horn Institute, explains to TRT Afrika.
Often, external powers push parties to pause the fighting on humanitarian grounds to facilitate relief efforts and alleviate civilian suffering.
The latest ceasefire in Sudan was called first by the Rapid Support Forces and, a day later, by the Sudanese Armed Forces, each calling it "unilateral", ostensibly in deference to Eid.
“They called the ceasefire on the pretext of Eid, and they managed to rejuvenate and come back stronger, which defeats the purpose of a ceasefire," Ali said.
Once the festival-time ceasefire lapsed, it was more than just business as usual on the frontline of the civil war. "Frankly, the war just intensified," said Dr. Abeer Zakaria of the preliminary committee of the Sudan Doctors Union.
Battles since mid-April between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hamdan Dagalo's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have led to nearly 3,000 people being killed. According to the Doctors' Union, at least 22 of the casualties were doctors.
According to the International Organization for Migration, another 2.2 million people have been internally displaced, while almost 645,000 have fled the country.
The Eid ceasefire was the seventh since the war began. Many before, brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia, as well as the African Union regional bloc, failed to hold.
The push for ceasefires is to create an opportunity for dialogue to happen, which if successful could be followed by a truce and then peace treaties.
But the stakes are high in the battle for supremacy between the SAF and the RSF in Sudan, complicating peace restoration efforts.
Each side remains intent on crushing the other. And with every passing day of violence, sometimes more horrifying than the previous one, prospects for peace only get dimmer.
