KHARTOUM, June 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sudan’s warring generals have agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire from Saturday, US and Saudi mediators said, acknowledging that previous attempts to pause a conflict now nearing its third month had proved abortive.
Multiple truces have been agreed and broken since fighting erupted on April 15, and Washington had slapped sanctions on both rival generals after the last attempt collapsed at the end of May.
“Representatives of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 24-hour countrywide ceasefire beginning on June 10 at 6:00 am,” said a joint statement from the mediators released by the Saudi foreign ministry on Friday.
“Should the parties fail to observe the 24-hour ceasefire, facilitators will be compelled to consider adjourning” talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah which have been suspended since late last month, the mediators said.
The fighting has gripped the capital Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, killing upwards of 1,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.
Nearly two million people have been displaced, including 476,000 who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, the United Nations says.
The Saudi and US mediators said they “share the frustration of the Sudanese people about the uneven implementation of previous ceasefires”.
The army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said it has “agreed to the proposal”, adding in a statement it “declares its commitment to the ceasefire”.
The paramilitary RSF, commanded by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, later said in a statement: “We affirm our full commitment to the ceasefire.”
Both statements said the truce could support humanitarian efforts, while cautioning against violations by their opponents.
“If observed, the 24-hour ceasefire will provide an important opportunity… for the parties to undertake confidence-building measures which could permit resumption of the Jeddah talks,” the US-Saudi statement said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday wrapped up a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he held discussions on Sudan with top Saudi officials.
Alfonso Verdu Perez, outgoing head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Sudan, warned on Friday that “health care may collapse at any moment”.
“The needs are immense and much more remains to be done” in both Khartoum and Darfur, he told reporters in Geneva.
About one fifth of medical facilities in the capital are still functioning but face “severe shortages” of water, food and electricity, and “are running low on essential medical supplies”, he added.
Witnesses reported hearing clashes on Friday near the Yarmouk weapons manufacturing and arms depot complex in Khartoum, from where plumes of smoke were seen rising for a second day.
Air strikes were also carried out in eastern parts of the capital and the sound of anti-aircraft fire was heard, with witnesses also reporting artillery fire and clashes in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile.
Those unable to leave have been forced to camp out for weeks as supplies of food and other vital goods run low.
— NNN-AGENCIES
