SUDAN’S WARRING GROUPS AGREE TO CEASE-FIRE

Sudan’s warring parties have agreed to a seven-day cease-fire beginning today, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced late Saturday, the first truce to be signed by both parties in a conflict that has raged for over a month, leaving millions of people across the northeast African nation in a dire humanitarian crisis.

The truce was announced more than two weeks after representatives of the rival factions — the Sudanese army controlled by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Lt. Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — began talks in the Saudi port city of Jeddah.

On Saturday, the sides promised to stop their forces from occupying new areas; to refrain from detaining or threatening civilians; and not to impede aid groups and workers from providing lifesaving assistance. The warring groups also agreed not to loot civilian properties or humanitarian supplies, nor to seize critical infrastructure such as electricity, fuel and water installations.

Before the announcement, the two sides had signed a pact only to protect civilians but not to suspend fighting altogether, leaving their soldiers clashing across Sudan. Previous cease-fire announcements, including one brokered by the United States and another by South Sudan, have faltered, leading to a mounting death toll and a vast displacement of people.

To ensure that the latest cease-fire holds, a monitoring committee of representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United States and the warring factions will be established.

The agreement late Saturday came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Burhan about efforts to stop the fighting and restore essential services. Blinken urged both sides to uphold the truce to deliver humanitarian aid for the millions of Sudanese suffering after more than five weeks of fighting between the generals’ forces.

“It is past time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access,” Blinken said on Twitter, adding, “the eyes of the world are watching.”

At least 850 people have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, according to the Sudanese doctors’ union, with about 3,400 injured.