Sudan ceasefire falters as fighting in Khartoum enters its third week: The Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia accused each other of violating a ceasefire over the weekend as fighting continued in the capital across the capital, Reuters reported. The two sides had on Thursday decided to extend ithe ceasefire for another 72 hours, but street battles were ongoing as of last night, with the newswire reporting clashes close to the presidential palace and the army HQ.

In numbers: The conflict has so far killed 528 people and injured 4.6k others, according to the latest numbers by the Sudanese Health Ministry. These figures could get much worse in the event of a protracted conflict, as per comments made by WHO officials last week. The UN Refugee Agency on Friday put the number of internally-displaced people from Khartoum at around 40k.

UN envoy voices optimism: The two sides are “more open to negotiations” but are yet to settle on a date for talks, the UN’s special representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, told Reuters. “They both think they will win, but they are both sort of more open to negotiations, the word ‘negotiations’ or ‘talks’ was not there in their discourse in the first week or so,” he said.

A warning from Sudan’s deposed ex-PM: Conflict in Sudan could be a “nightmare for the world,” the BBC reports former Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok as saying at a conference in Kenya yesterday. “This is not a war between an army and a small rebellion. It is almost like two armies — well trained and well armed,” he said, warning that the conflict could become worse than that in Syria or in Libya. Hamdok served as the country’s prime minister in the joint civilian-military government that came to power following the removal of the Bashir regime in 2020.

HERE IN EGYPT-

More than 16k people from Sudan have crossed the border into Egypt since the conflict began, according to figures released by the Foreign Ministry yesterday. More than 14k Sudanese refugees are now in the country, while some 2k people of other nationalities crossed the border, it said.

And thousands more want to enter: Sudanese families fleeing the violence are continuing to gather at the Egypt-Sudan border, with satellite imagery yesterday showing a long queue of buses lining up at the checkpoint.

Egypt has relaxed visa rules for Sudanese citizens and is allowing women, children and men over 50 into the country without a visa. Men aged between 16 and 49 are still required to have a visa.

More Egyptians evacuated: Officials rescued another 1k Egyptian citizens on Friday, bringing the total number to 6.4k, the Foreign Ministry said. The ministry will soon stop evacuating people at the Sudanese Wadi Seidna Air Base due to security risks, it said in a statement, calling on those still in Sudan to head to one of three meeting points to arrange their departure as soon as possible.

Two injured in the fighting:Two Egyptian students have been seriously injured by shrapnel, the Emigration Ministry said Friday. They are being airlifted out of the country at Port Sudan.

Shoukry continues diplomatic efforts: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry held talks with his South Sudanese and British counterparts, where he highlighted the necessity of ending the ongoing violence. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly expressed his appreciation for the Egyptian efforts to help evacuate British citizens from Sudan.

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