Sudanese Warring Parties Agree to Additional 3-day Cease Fire

Smoke from fuel stores at Khartoum airport as fighting intensifies on April 16, 2023

April 27, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese belligerents accepted an additional extension of the ceasefire for three more days on Thursday but continued to accuse each other of violating the truce.

In separate statements, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced the extension of the truce for 72 hours, effective from the end of the current truce on Thursday midnight.

However, the two parties traded accusations of attacks carried out on their positions in different areas of the capital.

The Sudanese army accused the RSF of bombing the General Command area, surrounding facilities, civilian institutions, and residential areas, causing civilian casualties.

The official military spokesman further said they repelled an attack on an army site on Nile Street on Thursday evening, causing heavy losses to the militia and destroying two vehicles. He also said they repulsed another attack on their positions south of Omdurman.

U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, discussed the situation in Sudan in a meeting held in Washington on Thursday.

Following the meeting, Blinken said they are “working very closely together to deal with the crisis in Sudan, hopefully working toward a more enduring ceasefire, cessation of hostilities, and helping to put Sudan back on the track that it was on to a civilian-led government.”

The RSF, for their part, announced that they repelled an attack by Sudanese army forces on their positions in the Kafori area of Khartoum. In a statement, the group said the Sudanese army used warplanes and artillery in their assault on an RSF camp.

On April 24, the warring parties accepted a three-day truce proposed by the IGAD countries. The Sudanese foreign ministry reported that the paramilitary forces attacked 12 hospitals and health facilities in Khartoum.

The Permanent Mission of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva delivered a memorandum to the World Health Organization describing the attack as a flagrant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for an immediate investigation into the incident and urged the international community to hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

(ST)