Explosions echoed through the pre-dawn darkness over Khartoum on Friday, November 7, 2025, as Sudan’s capital once again became the epicenter of a civil war that shows no clear sign of abating. According to BBC and Al Jazeera, the blasts were heard near a military base and a power station, jolting residents from their sleep and sending fresh waves of fear through a city long accustomed to violence. The attacks, attributed to drones, also reached the town of Atbara, some 300 kilometers north of Khartoum, where anti-aircraft defenses reportedly shot them down, but not before fires broke out and further explosions rattled the area.
These latest attacks came just hours after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced their willingness to accept a humanitarian ceasefire, a proposal originally put forward in September by an international coalition—the United States, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, collectively known as the Quad. The plan called for a three-month humanitarian pause, to be followed by a permanent ceasefire and, ultimately, a transition to civilian rule. Yet, as the dust settled over Khartoum and Atbara, the Sudanese military-led government remained deeply skeptical, citing the RSF’s track record of violating previous truces.
“From our experience, we had many truces at the beginning of the war but every time there was no respect from [the RSF],” Sudan’s ambassador to South Africa, Osman Abufatima Adam Mohammed, said during a press conference on Friday, as reported by BBC. “They use these truces to move to new areas and make moves against the government.” The ambassador also voiced strong opposition to the UAE’s involvement in ceasefire talks, repeating allegations that the Gulf nation had supplied the RSF with weapons and foreign fighters—a charge that United Nations experts have described as credible, though the UAE has consistently denied any such involvement.
For the people of Sudan, these diplomatic wranglings are anything but abstract. The civil war, sparked in April 2023 by a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe of staggering proportions. At least 150,000 people have been killed, according to BBC and Reuters—though the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a confirmed death toll of 40,000, with aid agencies warning the true number may be much higher. Some 12 million civilians have been forced from their homes, and famine conditions are now spreading across conflict zones, as confirmed by a recent UN-backed global hunger monitor.
Khartoum, once relatively calm after the regular army regained control earlier this year, has once again found itself under attack. The RSF’s announcement that it would agree to a truce came just days after it seized the key city of el-Fasher, the last major army stronghold in the western Darfur region, following an 18-month blockade. According to Al Jazeera and BBC, the fall of el-Fasher was accompanied by widespread reports of mass killings, sexual violence, and looting—allegations that have drawn international condemnation and which the RSF has flatly denied.
The RSF’s timing in agreeing to the ceasefire has not gone unnoticed. Many observers, including Sudanese government officials, see the move as a tactical ploy, designed to consolidate the group’s territorial gains before entering negotiations. With control over el-Fasher and much of Darfur, the RSF may now wield greater leverage in any future talks. But the group’s reputation has been severely tarnished by the atrocities reportedly committed during its latest offensive, and international pressure is mounting for accountability.
Meanwhile, the Sudanese army remains wary. According to Al Jazeera, a senior military official indicated that the SAF would only agree to a truce if the RSF withdrew from civilian areas and surrendered its weapons—a demand the RSF is unlikely to meet. Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan noted that both sides appear determined to continue fighting until their respective conditions are satisfied, leaving little room for optimism.
The diplomatic context is equally fraught. The Quad’s proposal, which the RSF has now accepted in principle, was initially rejected by the Sudanese government as “foreign interference” and as an attempt to equate the state with what it described as a “racist terrorist militia that relies on foreign mercenaries.” It remains unclear whether the plan has been modified since its original introduction, but the government’s suspicion of international mediation persists—particularly with regard to the UAE’s alleged role. On Sunday, senior UAE diplomat Anwar Gargash told reporters that the international community had made a “critical mistake” by supporting both al-Burhan and Hemedti when they deposed a Western-backed power-sharing government in 2021, a move that set the stage for the current conflict.
As the war grinds on, its toll on civilians continues to mount. The United Nations has described Sudan as home to the world’s worst humanitarian disaster, with aid agencies struggling to reach millions of people trapped by fighting. The specter of famine looms large, and the risk of further atrocities grows as the conflict shifts east toward Khartoum and the resource-rich Kordofan region.
Against this grim backdrop, the prospects for peace remain uncertain. Previous ceasefire agreements have collapsed amid mutual distrust and continued violence. The latest truce proposal, though endorsed by major international actors, faces formidable obstacles—not least the deep animosity between the warring factions and the complex web of regional interests at play.
Yet, for the exhausted and displaced millions of Sudanese, any glimmer of hope is precious. As one resident of Atbara told AFP, “Anti-aircraft defences shot [the drones] down, but I saw fires breaking out and heard sounds of explosions in the east of the city.” Such scenes have become heartbreakingly familiar, but the yearning for an end to the bloodshed remains undiminished.
With the RSF and the army still at loggerheads, and international mediators struggling to bridge the divide, Sudan’s future hangs in the balance. The coming weeks will reveal whether the latest ceasefire overture marks a genuine step toward peace or merely another chapter in a conflict that has already exacted an unbearable cost.
