Fires were heard yesterday, Sunday night at Khartoumon the sixth day of a ceasefire agreement that expires tonight and was supposed to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid, but in reality was never observed by the armed forces and paramilitaries involved in the April 15 war in Sudan.

To the long-suffering Darfura vast region in the western part of the African country, the governor called on citizens to arm themselves, raising the specter of a wider civil conflict.

The US and Saudi Arabia, which negotiated the ceasefire agreement with the armed forces of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and their paramilitaries Rapid Support Forces (DTY) of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, requested that its validity be extended beyond the agreed deadline — tonight at 22:25 (Greece time).

The two camps accuse each other of its violations ceasefire agreementwhich was supposed to allow the creation of safe humanitarian corridors so that trapped civilians could escape and aid could be distributed.

The aid organizations they emphasize that they have been able to distribute only very small amounts of food and medicine, while according to the UN 24 of the 45 million citizens of Sudan need help to survive.

The non-governmental organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières, MSF) warned yesterday that it may be forced to suspend its activity in Sudan.

The war that broke out on April 15 has claimed the lives of at least 1,800 peopleaccording to ACLED, an American NGO specializing in information on war zones, while over a million people were internally displaced and over 300,000 others became refugees, according to the UN.

“Take up arms”

The situation is extremely critical in Darfur, the region which, together with Khartoum, has been bloodied since April and was already torn apart by the war that broke out in 2003.

Darfur’s governor, former rebel leader Mini Manawi, now close to General Burhan, urged yesterday: “young and old, men and women, take up arms to defend what belongs to you.”

Already, according to the United Nations, armed civilians and fighters from tribes or rebel organizations are involved in clashes between the military and paramilitaries.

With 6.6% of Sudanese owning at least one gun, according to the Small Arms Survey, the army on Friday called on reservists and retirees to “voluntarily” enlist. In early May, in the eastern part of the country, hundreds of members of the Beza tribe demonstrated, demanding that General Burhan hand out weapons to them.

“People who belong to non-violent movements are now thinking about arming themselves to protect themselves,” explained democracy activist Raga Makaui.

The Uma party, one of the main ones in the country, warned yesterday “against calls for citizens to be armed under the pretext of protecting themselves”, in which it sees “attempts to lead the country into a civil war”.