Warring sides in Sudan agree to ceasefire

Addis Ababa, April 25, 2023 (FBC) – A ceasefire in Sudan so far appears to be holding after taking effect at midnight on Monday.

It is stated that the ceasefire is at least the third suspension of fighting since violence erupted this month, but the others did not hold.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the 72-hour pause in fighting had been agreed between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after 48 hours of negotiations.

Both sides in the conflict independently announced their involvement in the ceasefire.

It is to be recall that the UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned the violence in Sudan risks causing a “catastrophic conflagration” that could engulf the whole region and beyond.

There will be hopes the ceasefire will allow civilians to leave the city.

Countries have scrambled to evacuate their diplomats and civilians as fighting raged in central, densely populated parts of the capital.

Sudan is suffering an “internet blackout” with connectivity at 2% of ordinary levels, monitoring group NetBlocks said on Monday. In Khartoum, the internet has been down since Sunday night.

It is estimated that tens of thousands of people, including Sudanese citizens and those from neighbouring countries, have fled because of the unrest.

Violence broke out primarily in Khartoum, between rival military factions battling for control of Africa’s third largest country.

This came after days of tension as members of the RSF were redeployed around the country in a move that the army saw as a threat.

Since a 2021 coup, Sudan has been run 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 in effect the country’s president, and his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.

They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule.