The US has voiced “deep concern” over fighting in Sudan which has killed at least 97 civilians and injured hundreds more.
Fighting erupted on Saturday in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere between the Sudanese military and a powerful paramilitary group, involving armoured vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and war planes.
The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the commander of the armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces group.
The two generals are former allies who jointly orchestrated an October 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan's short-lived transition to democracy.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven Foreign Ministers meeting being held in Japan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “shared deep concern” about the violence.
“The threat that that poses to civilians, that it poses to the Sudanese nation and potentially poses even to the region," he said.
There was a strongly shared view that steps needed to be taken to protect civilians, non-combatants and people from third countries, he said.
“And also a strongly held view, again, across all of our partners on the need for an immediate ceasefire and return to talks that were very promising in putting Sudan on the path to a full transition to civilian led government," he said.
The clashes come as most Sudanese are preparing to celebrate the holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sunset.
Fighting was also reported around Khartoum International Airport and state television headquarters.
A senior military official said clashes with RSF fighters began earlier in the day around military headquarters.
“They are shooting against each other in the streets," said prominent rights advocate Tahani Abass who lives near the military headquarters. “It's an all-out war in residential areas."
Ms Abass said her family spent the night huddling on the ground floor of their home.
“No one was able to sleep and the kids were crying and screaming with every explosion," she said.
Both sides have signalled that they were unwilling to negotiate.
Among those calling for the fighting to end are the UN secretary-general, the EU foreign policy chief, the head of the Arab League and the head of the African Union Commission.
The African Union's top council called Sunday for an immediate cease-fire “without conditions." It also asked the AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat to “immediately travel to Sudan to engage the parties towards a cease-fire."
On Sunday, the UN World Food Program said it temporarily suspended operations in Sudan after three agency employees were killed in clashes the previous day and an aircraft used by the WFP was damaged.
About 16 million people, or one-third of Sudan's population, require humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
The rival forces were fighting in several locations across Sudan, including the western Darfur region where tens of thousands of people live in camps for displaced people after years of genocidal civil war.
The recent tensions stem from disagreement over how the RSF should be integrated into the armed forces and what authority should oversee the process.
The merger is a key condition of Sudan's unsigned transition agreement with political groups.
