The leader of the Sudanese army, Abdelfatah al Burhan, and the commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, accepted a three-hour “temporary pause in the fighting” on Sunday, proposed by the UN to open humanitarian corridors. .
The United Nations (UN) mission in Sudan announced on Twitter that the two soldiers accepted the proposal of the United Nations envoy to the African country, Volker Perthes.
The temporary cessation of hostilities “for humanitarian reasons” came into effect at 4:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. in Lisbon) and will end at 7:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m.) this Sunday.
Perthes acknowledged the efforts of Al Burhan and Dagalo to reach this agreement, but warned that the two leaders and their forces are “responsible for fulfilling this commitment.”
This lull in fighting comes just hours before Sudanese Muslims break their mandatory fast for the holy month of Ramadan, which residents strictly observe despite clashes and violence.
On Saturday, many Khartoum residents were trapped in their homes or in educational establishments and offices because of the clashes, which caused severe cuts in electricity and various basic services, such as drinking water.
In two days of fighting, at least 56 civilians were killed and nearly 600 – also among the warring parties – wounded, a network of doctors in Sudan said. Among the victims are three employees of the World Food Program, which has suspended its activities in the country.
However, these figures do not include casualties in the troubled western region of Darfur, where there is heavy fighting in Al Fasher and Nyala, as well as Al Obeid in North Kordofan state, due to difficulties of movement in those areas. .
RSF paramilitaries clashed with the Sudanese army on Saturday morning in Khartoum, but the violence spread to other parts of the country.
Heavy fighting involving armored vehicles, truck-mounted machine guns and fighter jets continued today in Khartoum, the nearby city of Omdurman and in other parts of the country, according to the Associated Press.
The clashes are part of a power struggle between General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, commander of the Armed Forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the RSF.
The two generals are former allies who orchestrated the October 2021 military coup that halted Sudan’s brief transition to democracy.
In recent months, internationally supported negotiations have revived hopes for an orderly transition to democracy.
However, the growing tensions between Burhan and Dagalo ended up delaying an agreement with the political parties.
In Khartoum and Omdurman, clashes were reported near the military headquarters, Khartoum International Airport and the headquarters of state television.
Both the army and the RSF claimed to control strategic locations in Khartoum and other areas, but these claims could not yet be independently verified.
Sudan, with more than 49 million inhabitants, is located on the shores of the Red Sea, which separates the country from Saudi Arabia.
It has land borders with Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.
Source: TSF
