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21-04-2023
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has announced it will shortly begin a ceasefire despite continued heavy fighting with the army in the capital Khartoum.
The RSF said in a statement it would observe a 72-hour ceasefire, which would come into effect at 6am (04:00 GMT) on Friday, which marks the beginning of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
“The armistice coincides with the blessed Eid al-Fitr, and to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens and give them the opportunity to greet their families,” the statement said.
Khartoum was rocked by heavy shelling in the early hours of Friday, with the RSF accusing the army of staging a “sweeping attack” on the capital.
A journalist in the north of the city reported an exchange of fire between the RSF and the army a few minutes before the paramilitary’s truce was supposed to start.
There was no word from the army on whether it would observe a ceasefire.
There have been a series of failed ceasefires since the violent power struggle broke out last weekend between the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the RSF, which is led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The two men were previously in an alliance as leaders of Sudan’s ruling military government.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among prominent international leaders who recently called for the warring factions to observe a three-day truce over Eid and allow civilians to reach safety.
At least 350 people have been killed in the fighting so far.
Thousands of civilians have fled Khartoum and large numbers of people have also crossed into Chad to flee fighting in the western region of Darfur.
The United Nations refugee agency told Al Jazeera that the “vast majority” of those who had crossed the border into Chad were women and children.
“They have fled seemingly overnight with nothing,” UNHCR global spokesperson Kathryn Mahoney said, noting that the Sudan violence signaled a “pretty significant displacement crisis” since there were already more than one million refugees in Sudan even before the army and RSF began fighting.
Khartoum was rocked by further shelling on Friday after several international leaders called Sudan’s army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, urging him to agree to a ceasefire in conjunction with the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Among those calling the army chief were Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the Egyptian intelligence chief, according to an army statement.
Thousands of civilians have fled Sudan’s capital since a violent power struggle broke out last weekend between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the previously allied leaders of Sudan’s ruling military government. Large numbers also crossed into Chad to flee fighting in the western region of Darfur.
Eid, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month, begins on Friday in Sudan.
“There are still clashes between army forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving buildings, facilities and public property destroyed,” the Reuters news agency quoted a doctors’ committee as having said.
The RSF issued a statement that made no mention of a possible truce and condemned the military for what it said were new assaults.
“At this moment, when citizens are preparing to receive the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the neighborhoods of Khartoum are waking up to the bombings of aircrafts and heavy artillery in a sweeping attack that is directly targeting residential neighborhoods,” the RSF said early on Friday. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
