Sudan’s army and a rival paramilitary group declared a cease-fire following seven days of conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives and brought the northern African nation to the brink of an all-out civil war.
While the military and the Rapid Support Forces accused each other of violating the three-day truce soon after it was announced and sporadic explosions could still be heard in the Khartoum, the capital, late Friday, heavy shelling had ceased. At least 330 people have died in the fighting and almost 3,200 have been wounded, according to the World Health Organization.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the army, and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on Thursday and urged them to commit to the cease-fire — the announcement of which was to be welcomed.
“It is clear, however, that fighting is continuing and there is serious mistrust between the two forces,” he said in a statement. “The priority for all must be to end the suffering of civilians.”
With parts of the North African country rendered a no-fly zone and supplies of water, fuel and other essentials in increasingly short supply, foreign governments have been struggling to evacuate their citizens. The U.S., Japan, Germany, India and South Korea have all said they are making plans to repatriate their nationals — which may be possible if the cessation in hostilities holds.
The RSF said in a statement that it was willing “to partially open all airports in Sudan to air traffic to enable brotherly and friendly countries that wish to evacuate their nationals to leave the country safely” and that it would lend them its full cooperation.
Some of the worst violence has taken place in al-Fasher in the western Darfur region, according to Cyrus Paye, project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders. He said he’d seen 279 wounded people since the fighting began on April 15 and 44 of them had died.
“The situation is catastrophic,” he said. “The majority of the wounded are civilians who were hit by stray bullets, and many of them are children. They have fractures caused by bullets, or they have gunshot wounds or shrapnel in their legs, their abdomen or their chest.”
In Khartoum, many people have been trapped in the vicinity of the army headquarters and presidential palace, and running out of food and water.
The conflict, the culmination of a long-simmering struggle between the army and the RSF, has upended plans for a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead the nation of about 45 million people to democratic elections after a 2021 coup. Tens of thousands of Sudanese have fled into neighboring Chad, according to the UN.
“With the pause in fighting, Sudan’s military and civilians leader must urgently begin negotiations on arrangements for a sustainable cease-fire to prevent further damage to the Sudanese nation,” Blinken said. “We remind both belligerents of their obligations under international humanitarian law, including their obligation to respect all rights of civilians.”
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(With assistance from Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Okech Francis, Seyoon Kim and Paul Richardson.)
