The United States and African nations were racing to secure a practical extension of a ceasefire in Sudan on Thursday, with the Sudanese army giving an initial nod to an African proposal calling for talks even as fighting continued.
Hundreds of people have been killed in nearly two weeks of conflict between the army and a rival paramilitary force - the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - which are locked in a power struggle that threatens to destabilise the wider region.
An RSF statement accused the army of attacking its forces on Thursday and spreading "false rumours", making no reference to the proposal which the army said came from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African regional bloc.
Gunfire could be heard on Thursday in the Khartoum a resident told Reuters news agency.
The existing three-day ceasefire brought about a lull in fighting, without completely halting it, but was due to expire at midnight (2200 GMT) and many foreign nationals remained trapped in the country despite an exodus over the past few days.
Sudan's army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, gave initial approval to the regional African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) proposal to extend a truce for 72 hours and send an army envoy to the south Sudan capital, Juba, for talks, an army statement said on Wednesday.
The proposal suggests sending both an army and Rapid Support Forces envoys to Juba to discuss the details.
The military said it had “initially accepted” a diplomatic initiative to extend the current cease-fire for another three days after it expires Thursday.
The initiative, brokered by the eight-nation East Africa trade bloc known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, would also include direct negotiations between the military and the Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group it has been battling since Apr. 15.
There was no immediate comment from the RSF on the initiative, which, if accepted by both sides, would mark a major breakthrough in more than a week of intense international diplomacy.
Taking advantage of relative calm, many residents in Khartoum and the neighboring city of Omdurman emerged from their homes to seek food and water, lining up at bakeries or grocery stores, after days of being trapped inside by the fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary group. Some inspected shops or homes that had been destroyed or looted.
“There is a sense of calm in my area and neighborhoods,” said Mahasen Ali, a tea vendor who lives in Khartoum’s southern neighborhood of May. “But all are afraid of what’s next.”
Sudanese families were massing Wednesday at a border crossing with Egypt and at a main port, desperately trying to escape their country's violence and sometimes waiting for days with little food or shelter, AFP news agency reports.
The fighting between the Sudanese army and the RSF group has sparked an exodus of foreigners with governments evacuating their nationals.
