Parties to Conflict in Sudan Agree on Seven-day Ceasefire — TV

According to Al Arabiya, the SAF and RSF signed an agreement in the Saudi city of Jeddah on a humanitarian truce, which will come into effect 48 hours after it was signed

© Marwan Ali/ AP

CAIRO, May 20. /TASS/. Parties to the armed conflict in Sudan - Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - agreed on a humanitarian truce for seven days on Saturday, Al Arabiya news channel reported.

According to the TV channel, the SAF and RSF signed an agreement in the Saudi city of Jeddah on a humanitarian truce, which will come into effect 48 hours after it was signed.

The agreement provides for "establishing a special committee to implement the truce, which will include representatives of the mediators - Saudi Arabia and the United States - as well as the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces." It also calls for the pullout "of all armed personnel from the country’s medical facilities to provide an opportunity to start repairing the housing and utilities system."

It is the second long-term agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire since the armed conflict broke out. The first one, which was supposed to be observed by the parties to the conflict for 10 days, did not last even a few hours.

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists.

On April 15, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum. Several attempts have been made to call a ceasefire since the conflict broke out. According to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, at least 850 civilians have been killed in the clashes.