Sudan's army and a paramilitary force battled on Khartoum's outskirts on Wednesday, undermining a truce in their 11-day conflict, but the army expressed willingness to extend the cease-fire.
The army late on Wednesday said its leader, General Abdel Fattah Burhan, gave initial approval to a plan to extend the truce for another 72 hours and send an army envoy to the South Sudan capital, Juba, for talks.
The Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces previously agreed to a three-day cease-fire that is to expire late Thursday. There was no immediate response from the RSF to the proposal from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional bloc.
The military said the presidents of South Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti worked on a proposal that includes extending the truce and talks between the two forces.
"Burhan thanked the IGAD and expressed an initial approval to that," the army statement said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat discussed working together to create a sustainable end to the fighting, the State Department said in a statement Wednesday.
Fighting, marauding, looting
Some of Wednesday's heaviest battles were in Omdurman, a city adjoining Khartoum where the army was fighting RSF reinforcements from other regions of Sudan, a Reuters reporter said. Heavy gunfire and airstrikes could be heard into the evening.
In Khartoum, which together with two bordering cities is one of Africa's largest urban areas, gangs marauded and there was widespread looting.
Since fighting erupted on April 15, airstrikes and artillery have killed at least 512 people, wounded nearly 4,200, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of the 46 million people relied on humanitarian aid.
WHO predicts 'many more deaths'
The World Health Organization said 16% of health facilities were functioning in Khartoum and predicted "many more deaths" from disease and shortages of food, water and medical services including immunization.
The treatment of an estimated 50,000 acutely malnourished children has been disrupted by the conflict, and the hospitals that are still functioning are facing shortages of medical supplies, power and water, according to a United Nations update on Wednesday.
Deadly clashes broke out in Geneina in West Darfur on Tuesday and Wednesday, resulting in looting and civilian deaths and raising concerns about an escalation of ethnic tensions, the update said.
The crisis has sent growing numbers of refugees across Sudan's borders, with the U.N. refugee agency estimating 270,000 people could flee into South Sudan and Chad alone.
Foreigners evacuated from Khartoum have described bodies littering streets, buildings on fire, residential areas turned into battlefields, and youths roaming with large knives.
The White House said a second American had died in Sudan.
