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Saudi Arabia and the United States have called for a ceasefire in Sudan to be extended.

Both countries are monitoring the truce, which has been repeatedly violated, and called on the army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to continue negotiations, so that humanitarian aid can be delivered.

Residents said there were clashes overnight in the capital, Khartoum, and the adjoining city of Omdurman.

There's growing concern about the worsening security in the Darfur region.

The former rebel leader and current governor of Darfur, Minni Minawi, has called on civilians to take up arms there.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called on the public to support a new plan to restore universal suffrage next year, ending a decade of indirect voting.

Under proposals agreed at a four-day conference in the capital, Mogadishu, voters would directly choose a national president for the first time since General Siad Barre seized power in 1969.

The first direct vote would be in local elections in June next year, followed by federal elections later.

Somalia's central government collapsed in the 1990s when Siad Barre was overthrown.

An indirectly appointed administration has been in place since 2012, but it's marred by clan rivalries, corruption and political wrangling - further exacerbated by an Islamist insurgency.