By Mohamed Nureldin Nafisa Eltahir
KHARTOUM (Reuters) -U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths&nbsp;said&nbsp;on Wednesday that&nbsp;he&nbsp;was seeking assurances&nbsp;from&nbsp;Sudan's warring factions over the&nbsp;safe delivery of aid after six trucks of humanitarian supplies were looted&nbsp;and&nbsp;air strikes in Khartoum undermined a new ceasefire.
"We will&nbsp;still&nbsp;require&nbsp;agreements&nbsp;and&nbsp;arrangements&nbsp;to&nbsp;allow&nbsp;for&nbsp;movement&nbsp;of&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and&nbsp;supplies," Griffiths&nbsp;said&nbsp;from&nbsp;Port&nbsp;Sudan, where&nbsp;many&nbsp;people&nbsp;have&nbsp;fled&nbsp;as the&nbsp;army&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rapid&nbsp;Support&nbsp;Forces&nbsp;(RSF)&nbsp;have&nbsp;battled&nbsp;for&nbsp;three&nbsp;weeks.
"We will need to&nbsp;have&nbsp;agreement at the&nbsp;highest level&nbsp;and&nbsp;very publicly&nbsp;and&nbsp;we will need to deliver those commitments into local&nbsp;arrangements&nbsp;that can be depended on,"&nbsp;he&nbsp;told reporters via videolink&nbsp;from&nbsp;Port&nbsp;Sudan.
Air strikes were&nbsp;heard in Khartoum on Wednesday, a Reuters witness&nbsp;said, even as warring factions agreed to a new seven-day ceasefire&nbsp;from&nbsp;Thursday, weakening chances for a lasting truce.
The&nbsp;conflict has created a humanitarian crisis, with about 100,000&nbsp;people&nbsp;forced to flee with little food or water to neighbouring countries, the&nbsp;United Nations&nbsp;said.
Aid deliveries&nbsp;have&nbsp;been&nbsp;held up in a nation where about one-third of&nbsp;people&nbsp;already relied on humanitarian assistance. A broader disaster could be in the&nbsp;making as&nbsp;Sudan's impoverished neighbours grapple with the&nbsp;influx of refugees.
Griffiths&nbsp;said&nbsp;he&nbsp;had been told by the&nbsp;World Food Programme that six of their trucks travelling to Darfur were looted en route despite assurances of safety&nbsp;and&nbsp;security. There was no immediate comment&nbsp;from&nbsp;WFP.
"It's a volatile environment, so we need those commitments," Griffiths&nbsp;said. "It's not as if we're asking for the&nbsp;moon. We're asking for the&nbsp;movement&nbsp;of humanitarian supplies, of&nbsp;people. We do this in every other country, even without ceasefires. It's a traditional humanitarian enterprise to go where others don't."
Previous ceasefire&nbsp;agreements&nbsp;between the&nbsp;army&nbsp;and&nbsp;a paramilitary force, whose power struggle erupted into full blown conflict in mid-April,&nbsp;have&nbsp;ranged&nbsp;from&nbsp;24 to 72 hours, but none&nbsp;have&nbsp;been fully observed.
Tens of thousands of&nbsp;people&nbsp;have&nbsp;left Khartoum area&nbsp;and&nbsp;its adjoining cities, fearful of both airstrikes&nbsp;and&nbsp;soldiers&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;paramilitary&nbsp;RSF.
Caught between&nbsp;army&nbsp;airstrikes overhead&nbsp;and&nbsp;RSF&nbsp;soldiers on the&nbsp;ground,&nbsp;many&nbsp;citizens feel forced to take sides.
"If I&nbsp;hear the&nbsp;(army) airstrikes I feel safe because at least I know the&nbsp;RSF&nbsp;won't come into my house,"&nbsp;said&nbsp;Omdurman resident Salma, who&nbsp;said&nbsp;the&nbsp;relentless fighting keeps&nbsp;her up at night. "I protested against Bashir&nbsp;and&nbsp;against&nbsp;army&nbsp;rule, but for now they're protecting me."
THIRD WEEK OF FIGHTING
South&nbsp;Sudan's foreign ministry&nbsp;said&nbsp;on Tuesday that mediation championed by its president, Salva Kiir, had led both sides to agree a weeklong truce&nbsp;from&nbsp;Thursday to May 11&nbsp;and&nbsp;to name envoys for peace talks. The&nbsp;current ceasefire was due to expire on Wednesday.
It was unclear, however, how&nbsp;army&nbsp;chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan&nbsp;and&nbsp;RSF&nbsp;leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo would proceed.
Army&nbsp;jets&nbsp;have&nbsp;been bombing&nbsp;RSF&nbsp;units dug into residential districts of the&nbsp;capital region.
Conflict has spread to the&nbsp;western Darfur region where the&nbsp;RSF&nbsp;emerged&nbsp;from&nbsp;tribal militias that fought beside government&nbsp;forces&nbsp;to crush rebels in a civil war dating back 20 years.
The&nbsp;commanders of the&nbsp;army&nbsp;and&nbsp;RSF, who had shared power as part of an internationally backed transition towards free elections&nbsp;and&nbsp;civilian government,&nbsp;have&nbsp;shown no sign of backing down, yet neither side seems able to secure a quick victory.
Fighting now in its third week has engulfed Khartoum - one of Africa's largest cities -&nbsp;and&nbsp;killed hundreds of&nbsp;people.&nbsp;Sudan's&nbsp;Health Ministry reported on Tuesday that 550&nbsp;people&nbsp;have&nbsp;died&nbsp;and&nbsp;4,926&nbsp;have&nbsp;been wounded.
Foreign governments were winding down evacuation operations that sent thousands of their citizens home. Britain&nbsp;said&nbsp;its last flight would depart&nbsp;Port&nbsp;Sudan&nbsp;on the&nbsp;Red Sea on Wednesday&nbsp;and&nbsp;urged any remaining Britons wanting to leave to make their way there.
(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, William Maclean)

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UN says aid trucks looted in 'volatile' Sudan, calls for safe passage