Top Stories

Breaking: Sudan’s Warring Factions Agree To A 72-hour Nationwide Ceasefire – Blinken

Sudan is waking up to a 72-hour ceasefire, which took effect at midnight (22:00 GMT) on Monday.

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

Advertisement

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an agreement had been reached between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after 48 hours of negotiations.

At least 400 people have been killed since fighting erupted on 15 April.

Advertisement

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

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

Advertisement

Since the violence began, residents of the battle-scarred capital Khartoum have been told to stay inside, and food and water supplies have been running low.

The bombing has hit key infrastructure, like water pipes, meaning that some people have been forced to drink from the River Nile.

Advertisement

There will be hopes the ceasefire will allow civilians to leave the city. Foreign governments will also hope it will allow for continued evacuations out of the country.

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

Advertisement

Earlier on Monday, Mr Blinken said that some convoys trying to move people out had encountered “robbery and looting”.

The US, he added, was looking at potentially resuming its diplomatic presence in Sudan but he described the conditions there as “very challenging”.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

Hassan Ibrahim, 91, was among them. The retired physician lives near the main airport in Khartoum, where some of the worst fighting has taken place, but has since made the perilous journey into neighbouring Egypt with his family.

He told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme they had escaped being caught up in a firefight between RSF fighters and the army but that a van travelling behind them had got hit. The family then boarded a bus to the border, which took 12 hours, only for them to be met by “crowded and chaotic” scenes as people waited to be given entry.

Advertisement

“There were so many families with elderly passengers, children and babies,” said Mr Ibrahim. “The Sudanese are fleeing the country – it is a sad reality.”

Eiman ab Garga, a British-Sudanese gynaecologist who works in the UK, was visiting the capital with her children when the fighting began and has just been evacuated to Djibouti on a flight organised by France. Her hurried departure meant that she was not able to say goodbye to her ailing father, nor her mother and sister.

Advertisement

“The country is dirty, there’s rubbish all over it,” she told BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight programme. “There’s sewage overflowing it smells so now we’re next going to have an outbreak of illness and disease and there won’t be a hospital to go to there.”

“We’re just looking at death and destruction and destitution.”

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

 

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.

Advertisement

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

The main sticking points are plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army, and who would then lead the new force.

Advertisement

Gen Dagalo has accused Gen Burhan’s government of being “radical Islamists” and that he and the RSF were “fighting for the people of Sudan to ensure the democratic progress for which they have so long yearned”.

Many find this message hard to believe, given the brutal track record of the RSF.

Advertisement

Gen Burhan has said he supports the idea of returning to civilian rule, but that he will only hand over power to an elected government.

BBC,REUTERS.

Advertisement
michaelogbeide@gmail.com

Recent Posts

Tinubu promotes Acting Chief of Army Staff, Oluyede to Lt Gen

President Bola Tinubu has promoted the acting Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede to the…

33 mins ago

Digital Transformation: Maida, Kekere-Ekun Speak At NCC’s Annual Workshop for Judges in Lagos

Welcome Address Delivered at the 2024 Edition of the Judges Workshop at Sheraton Hotel Ikeja,…

6 hours ago

Breaking: House Of Reps Finance Committee Visits FIRS

The House of Representatives Finance Committee has paid a working visit to the headquarters of…

8 hours ago

BREAKING: Tinubu govt drops treason charges against EndBadGovernance protesters

  The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the treason charges brought against the…

12 hours ago

#USRoadToWhiteHouse2024: Trump-Harris polls remain tied in battleground states…

What to know about the end of the #USElection2024 campaign The most recent polling analysis…

12 hours ago

#USElection2024 Live Updates: Trump Vs Harris…Latest Results…Latest Polls

#US election 2024 Live Updates:  What you need to know about USelection2024 latest polls •…

12 hours ago