Against the backdrop of heavy fighting in the city of Khartoum, representatives of the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and paramilitaries of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) concluded on Saturday May 20 to a week-long ceasefire. This, the United States and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement, "will enter into force at 9:45 p.m. Khartoum time (19:45 GMT) on May 22" and will last for "seven days".
Earlier in the day, residents of the capital told AFP of increasingly violent "airstrikes" even causing "the walls of houses to shake".
The announcement of this new truce comes after several ceasefires concluded since the beginning of the fighting in Sudan on April 15 quickly shattered, which Riyadh and Washington have acknowledged. But, "unlike previous ceasefires, the agreement reached in Jeddah was signed by the parties and will be backed by a ceasefire monitoring mechanism backed by the United States, Saudi Arabia and (the) international community,” the statement said.
For more than a month, the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and the paramilitaries of General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting for control of places of power.
The ceasefire announcement also comes two weeks after representatives of the two feuding generals first met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks. They pledged on May 11 to respect humanitarian principles and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. But the UN chief for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, on Thursday deplored "significant and flagrant violations of this declaration, which have taken place since its signing".
On Friday, General Al-Burhane appointed three of his loyal followers to the top of the army, dismissing General Daglo from his post as deputy to the Sovereignty Council and appointing Malik Agar in his place. The latter, a former rebel who had signed peace with the power of Khartoum in 2020, announced on Saturday in a unifying statement that he wanted to "stop the war and sit down at the negotiating table". "Sudan's stability can only be restored by a professional and unified army," he said, addressing General Daglo.
It was the integration of the FSRs into the army that sounded the death knell for the union between General Burhane and General Daglo, since the 2021 putsch, during which they together ousted civilians from power.
The struggle between the two men for power has plunged Sudan into chaos. Testimonies of occupation of housing, looting and other abuses are multiplying and diplomatic representations have not been spared. Also on Saturday, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry accused the "RSF militias" of attacking, vandalizing and looting the Qatari embassy in Khartoum, taking computers and vehicles.
Khartoum had previously accused the paramilitaries of attacking evacuated chancelleries: "The Indian and Korean embassies, the Saudi cultural office, the residence of Swiss diplomats and a Turkish consular section. The attack caused no casualties, according to Doha, which had already evacuated embassy staff. The Qatari Foreign Ministry denounced the attack, saying its embassy had been "stormed and vandalized" by "irregular armed forces".
After a month of fighting that has left more than 1,000 dead and more than 1 million displaced and refugees, food is becoming increasingly scarce and the Sudanese agri-food industry is on its knees. More than one in two Sudanese needs humanitarian aid and the UN has announced that it will release $22 million from an emergency fund to help Sudanese who have fled to neighboring countries. Nearly a quarter of this sum will be used to meet the needs of more than 110,000 people who have fled to Egypt, a large neighbor to the north, hit by a serious economic crisis.
The UN envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, who remained in the country, flew to New York on Saturday where he is to address the Security Council on Monday. As neighboring countries fear contagion, the United States on Friday announced $103 million in aid for Sudan and neighboring countries to deal with the humanitarian crisis.
