The Central Reserve Police is a large and heavily armed division of Sudan’s police force that has fighting experience from conflicts in the western region of Darfur and in the Nuba Mountains in southern Sudan. In an apparent bid to boost its forces in the capital, the army said on Saturday that the Central Reserve Police had begun to deploy in southern Khartoum and would be deployed gradually in other areas of the capital. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. The RSF said the army had used artillery and warplanes to attack its positions in a number of areas in Khartoum province. The Sudanese army said on Sunday it had destroyed RSF convoys moving towards Khartoum from the west. The situation in Khartoum, where the army has been battling RSF forces entrenched in residential areas, was relatively calm on Sunday morning, a Reuters journalist said, after heavy clashes were heard on Saturday evening near the city centre. Locked in a battle for Khartoum, Sudan’s capital on the Nile, the parties have fought on despite a series of ceasefires secured by mediators including the United States.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded since a long-simmering power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into conflict on April 15th. Sudan’s rival military forces accused each other of fresh violations of a ceasefire that was set to expire on Sunday as their deadly conflict continued for a third week despite warnings of a slide towards catastrophic civil war.

“In response to international, regional and local calls, we announce the extension of the humanitarian truce for 72 hours, starting from midnight tonight, in order to open humanitarian corridors and facilitate the movement of citizens and residents and enable them to fulfil their needs and reach safe areas,” the statement said. Meanwhile, a humanitarian truce was extended on Sunday and will last for three days starting from midnight, according to a statement released by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spokesman. Sudanese Army soldiers rest near a tank at a checkpoint in Khartoum on April 30th.

Between by Mary Ting