Sudan’s army and paramilitary RSF sign seven-day ceasefire

CAIRO/DUBAI, (Reuters) - Sudan’s warring factions signed an agreement late yesterday for a seven-day ceasefire as fighting that has plunged the country into chaos and displaced more than a million entered its sixth week.

The ceasefire will take effect at 9:45 p.m. Khartoum time (1945 GMT) on Monday, the sponsors of the talks, the United States and Saudi Arabia, said in a joint statement.

Numerous previous ceasefire agreements were violated. However, this agreement will be enforced by a U.S.-Saudi and international-supported monitoring mechanism, the statement said without providing details.

The agreement also calls for distributing humanitarian assistance, restoring essential services and withdrawing forces from hospitals and essential public facilities.

The fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to a collapse of order. Stocks of food, cash and essentials are rapidly dwindling, and mass looting has hit banks, embassies, aid warehouses and even churches.

Aid groups have said they are unable to provide sufficient assistance in Khartoum, the capital, in the absence of safe passage and security guarantees for staff.

AIR STRIKES

Air strikes were reported on Saturday by eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, the two cities that lie across the Nile from Khartoum, forming Sudan’s “triple capital”. Some of the strikes took place near the state broadcaster in Omdurman, the eyewitnesses said.

“We faced heavy artillery fire early this morning, the whole house was shaking,” Sanaa Hassan, a 33-year-old living in the al-Salha neighbourhood of Omdurman, told Reuters by phone.

“It was terrifying, everyone was lying under their beds. What’s happening is a nightmare,” she said.

The RSF is embedded in residential districts, drawing almost continual air strikes by the regular armed forces.