Khartoum: On Friday, Khartoum came under attack from airstrikes and artillery after the warring army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of Sudan failed to agree to a ceasefire despite promising to protect civilians and permit humanitarian access.

After nearly a week of negotiations between the two factions, who had previously shared power before disagreeing over a move to civilian rule, a so-called declaration of principles was signed late on Thursday in Saudi Arabia.

RSF adviser Moussa Khadam told Sky News Arabia that the group would uphold the agreed-upon principles and sought to achieve a total cease-fire. However, there was no decrease in violence, and the army made no comments regarding the deal.

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Since savagely clashing on April 15, the opposing military factions have given little indication that they are prepared to put an end to the bloody fighting that has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes and threatens to plunge Sudan into a full-blown civil war.

The UN reported on Friday that 200,000 people have now fled into neighbouring states as a result of the conflict paralysing Sudan's economy and strangling its trade.

Volker Perthes, the UN representative for Sudan, stated that he anticipated the resumption of ceasefire negotiations on Friday or Saturday and noted that while earlier ceasefires failed because both sides believed they could win, neither side now believes that victory would come easily. His optimistic assessment stood in stark contrast to the dissatisfaction felt by many in the city.

Blasts were also audible in the nearby Bahri neighbourhood. "We were expecting that the agreement would calm down the war, but we woke up to artillery fire and airstrikes," said Mohamed Abdallah, 39, a resident of Khartoum.

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After two weeks of relative calm, fighting between local militias in western Darfur flared up again in the city of Geneina as one group attacked another. The fighting, which last month claimed 450 lives, shook neighbourhoods with gunfire and artillery.

Locally negotiated ceasefires between the army and RSF appeared to hold in other areas of Darfur, where a war has simmered since 2003, killing 300,000 people and displacing 2.5 million.

Al-Taj Al-Tayyib expressed his hope that Thursday's agreement would be the beginning of peace in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. "All these crises are not necessary for our nation. This nation doesn't need that, he swore.

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In order to get assurances that their supplies and employees will be safe, a large number of UN and other aid organisations have halted aid to Sudan, and particularly Khartoum.