Sudan Armistice: 72-hour ceasefire Begins

Jikany Nuer White Army fighters holds their weapons in Upper Nile State, South Sudan February 10, 2014. South Sudan's rebels said on Tuesday that government soldiers had launched attacks against their positions in oil-rich Unity State in what they said was a violation of a peace deal signed in August. Picture taken February 10, 2014. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic - GF20000063093

An armistice that went into effect at midnight (Monday, 22:00 GMT) seems to be holding.

The fourth attempt to end the combat began on April 15, none of the previous truces having been honoured.

After 48 hours of negotiations, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have consented to a 72-hour ceasefire.

At least 400 individuals have been slain in the fighting.

Both sides of the conflict declared their participation in the ceasefire independently.

The violence in Sudan, according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, could spark a “catastrophic conflagration” that engulfs the entire region and beyond.

Since the outbreak of violence, residents of the war-ravaged capital Khartoum have been instructed to remain indoors, and food and water supplies are running low.

The bombing has damaged vital infrastructure, such as water pipelines, forcing some people to drink from the River Nile.

There is optimism that the ceasefire will permit civilians to evacuate the city. Foreign governments will also expect that continued evacuations will be permitted.

As combat raged in central, densely populated areas of the capital, countries scrambled to evacuate their diplomats and civilians.

The British government has announced that it will begin evacuating British citizens and their immediate family members on Tuesday.

Mr. Blinken stated on Monday that some convoys attempting to evacuate people had confronted “robbery and looting.”

The United States, he added, was considering resuming its diplomatic presence in Sudan, but conditions there were “extremely difficult.”

Sudan experienced an “internet blackout” on Sunday due to the conflict, but NetBlocks reports that connectivity has since been partially restored.

Due to the unrest, it is estimated that tens of thousands of people, including Sudanese citizens and those from neighbouring nations, have evacuated.

91-year-old Hassan Ibrahim was among them. The retired physician resides near Khartoum’s main airport, where some of the worst fightings has occurred, but he and his family have since made the perilous journey into neighbouring Egypt.

He reported on the Newshour programme of the BBC World Service that they had avoided a firefight between RSF fighters and the army, but that a vehicle travelling behind them had been struck. The family then took a 12-hour bus ride to the border, where they encountered “crowded and chaotic” situations as people waited to be granted entry.

“There were so many families with elderly passengers, children, and babies,” Mr. Ibrahim stated. “The Sudanese are fleeing the country – this is a sad reality.”

Eiman ab Garga, a British-Sudanese gynaecologist who works in the United Kingdom, was in the capital with her children when violence broke out; she was evacuated to Djibouti on a French-organized flight. Her hasty departure prevented her from saying farewell to her ailing father, as well as her mother and sister.

“The country is filthy and littered with trash,” she said on BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight. There is sewage overflowing and it reeks; therefore, there will be an outbreak of disease and there will be no hospital to go to.

The only things we see are death, devastation, and destitution.

In the capital city of Khartoum, rival military factions fought for control of the third largest country in Africa.

This occurred after days of tension caused by the RSF’s redeployment across the nation, which the army perceived as a threat.

Since a coup in 2021, Sudan has been governed by a council of generals, led by the two military men at the centre of this dispute: Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and de facto the country’s president, and Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, his deputy and leader of the RSF.

They disagree on the country’s future course and the proposed transition to civilian rule.

Plans to incorporate the 100,000-strong RSF into the army and who would command the new force are the primary sticking points.

Gen Dagalo has accused Gen Burhan’s government of being “radical Islamists” and stated that he and the RSF were “fighting for the Sudanese people to ensure the long-awaited democratic progress”

Given the RSF’s violent past, many find it difficult to believe this message.

Gen Burhan has stated that he supports returning to civilian rule, but he will only transfer authority to an elected government.

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