Heavy clashes in Sudan spread further on Saturday ahead of the much anticipated negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Residents in the capital say the Sudanese army has bombarded residential areas as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken over civilian properties.

Fighting has been reported in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Geneina in the Darfur region.

The violence, which erupted a month ago, has killed hundreds of people in Sudan and threatens to pull in outside powers and destabilize the country.

According to the medical charity MSF, displaced individuals living in a big camp in north Darfur are limiting themselves to a single meal per day because food relief programs have been discontinued due to the raging conflict. It predicted that the situation of already hungry children would worsen.

As talks resumed in Saudi Arabia, officials believe the negotiation in Jeddah will begin by discussing how to enforce the existing accord, then move on to a long-term truce that might pave the way for a civilian government.

Meanwhile,Sudanese airspace will remain shut to all traffic until May 31, according to Sudan’s civil aviation authorities, but “humanitarian aid and evacuation flights” will be unaffected.

Fighting first broke out in Sudan in mid-April, after a long power struggle erupted between de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the paramilitary RSF.

The United Nations estimates that more than 700,000 people have been displaced by the conflict.

i-News Nigeria