Fears mount for Sudan ceasefire as former regime members escape

Anti-aircraft guns fired at fighter jets in the skies over Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman on Wednesday, witnesses told AFP.

A wanted Sudanese war crimes suspect has confirmed that he and other members of the Islamist regime ousted in 2019 have escaped from prison during recent fighting, raising new fears for a fragile ceasefire that has enabled foreigners to flee.

The 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the United States was already struggling to hold after the regular army launched renewed air strikes against rival paramilitary forces in the capital late on Tuesday.

Anti-aircraft guns fired at fighter jets in the skies over Khartoum's sister city of Omdurman on Wednesday, witnesses told AFP.

Armed clashes meanwhile continued in Soba on the outskirts of Khartoum, witnesses said.

The escape of leading figures from the ousted regime of Omar al-Bashir, at least one of whom is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, has raised fears the conflict may take a turn for the worse.

Ahmed Harun, a top Bashir aide who led the regime's infamous counter-insurgency operations in Darfur in the mid-2000s, said late Tuesday that he and other regime members had escaped from Kober prison.

The ousted dictator had himself been held in the same prison but the army confirmed on Wednesday that the 79-year-old had already been transferred to hospital before the current fighting erupted on April 15.