Sudan's rival forces agree to 3-day cease-fire

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group agreed to a 3-day cease-fire starting on Sunday.

The cease-fire brokered by Saudi and US mediators started at 6:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT).

“The parties agreed that during the cease-fire they will refrain from prohibited movements, attacks, use of military aircraft or drones, artillery strikes, reinforcement of positions and resupply of forces, and will refrain from seeking military advantage during the cease-fire,” Saudi Arabia and the United States said in a joint statement.

“They also agreed to allow the unimpeded movement and delivery of humanitarian assistance throughout the country,” they added.

Sudan has been ravaged by fighting between the army and the RSF since April. Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in the violence, according to local medics.The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 2.2 million people have been displaced by the current conflict.

The statement called on Sudan’s warring rivals “to consider the immense suffering of the Sudanese people and to adhere fully to this cease-fire and cease the severity of violence.”

“Should the parties fail to observe the 72-hour cease-fire, facilitators will be compelled to consider adjourning the Jeddah talks,” the statement warned.

Previous cease-fire agreements between Sudan’s warring parties were repeatedly violated with the two sides blaming each other for violations.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF about the integration of the paramilitary group into the armed forces -- a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since the fall of 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency, in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

The transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar, Ahmed Asmar