Airstrikes and heavy shelling resumed in warring Sudan on Thursday, hours after Nigerian evacuees and citizens of other countries departed the African nation.
On Wednesday night, the first batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan landed safely at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
OsunDaily News gathered that the returnees arrived at the Federal Capital Territory at 11:35 pm yesterday, against the 11:23 pm scheduled for a touchdown at the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport.
While efforts were ongoing to repatriate foreign citizens, it was reported that the warring parties in Sudan agreed to a ceasefire.
Reports, however, emerging on Thursday morning said the agreement seemed to have been broken, with airstrikes and heavy shelling heard near the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum.
According to Al-Jazeera, artillery fire was also heard in the neighbouring town of Omdurman.
OsunDaily News understands that the ceasefire earlier agreed on was supposed to last from Thursday, May 4, till May 11.
However, the chances that it would hold had been considered slim. Since the fighting began in Sudan between military factions loyal to two top generals nearly three weeks ago, ceasefires of up to 72 hours have been repeatedly negotiated, only to be constantly broken.
Sudan’s de facto president, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is leading the military in a power struggle against his former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who heads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The two generals had once seized control of Sudan together in joint military coups.
However, repeated disagreements about how to share power led to a deepening rift between the two camps, culminating in open fighting on April 15 and urging the country with its around 46 million inhabitants into a grave crisis.
