‘No sign Sudan warring parties ready to negotiate’

A US-brokered ceasefire in Sudan appears to be partially holding but there is no sign the warring parties are ready to seriously negotiate, the UN special envoy on Sudan has said.

This suggested "that both think that securing a military victory over the other is possible," envoy Volker Perthes told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. "This is a miscalculation."

Meanwhile, army and a paramilitary force battled on the outskirts of the capital yesterday, eroding a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear could revive the influence of those loyal to ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

Fuelling those concerns, the army confirmed the transfer of Bashir from Khartoum's Kober prison to a military hospital, along with at least five of his former officials, before hostilities started on April 15.

Over the weekend, thousands of inmates were freed outright from prison, including a former minister in Bashir's government who, like him, is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

At least one other of the group transferred to hospital is wanted by the ICC.

Bashir's three-decade reign came to an end four years ago. He has been in prison, with spells in hospital, on Sudanese charges related to the 1989 coup that brought him to power.