Conflict in Sudan: how Khartoum woke up at the beginning of the truce announced by the United States

Khartoum Calm returned on Tuesday for the first time since fighting broke out ten days ago between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR), thanks to the 72-hour ceasefire that the parties agreed to agreed through US mediation.

Both the Army and the FAR have announced in their respective press releases that they will respect the new truce (the sixth since April 15), which entered into force this Monday, as announced by the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenwhich called on the parties for a “definitive cessation of hostilities”.

Although the FAR reported that army fighters had been flying over various suburbs of Khartoum since early Tuesday morning, there were no reports of shelling or fighting as in previous ceasefires.

“We renew our absolute commitment to the humanitarian truce declared for a period of 72 hoursthat we have agreed and engaged in all its conditions in order to open humanitarian corridors for citizens and national residents of brother and friendly countries,” said the FAR group.

And he completed: “We report it the second party did not respect the terms of the armisticesince their (fighter) planes are still in the skies over Khartoum (…), which represents a clear violation of the armistice and its conditions which must be implemented”.

For its part, the Sudanese army has confirmed its respect for the pause “to alleviate the suffering of our citizens and to Humanitarian reasonsprovided the rebels agree to end all hostilities and meet the requirements for their continuation.”

“We hope this will help create adequate humanitarian conditions for our citizens and residents of the country,” he added.

mass exodus

The new respite comes in the middle of the exodus of thousands of Sudanese in safe areas in Sudan and other neighboring countries, and while dozens of countries have evacuated their citizens and withdrawn their diplomatic personnel in recent days from the African country, including the United States.

Egypt, Sudan’s northern neighbor and a country that hosts a large Sudanese colony, has announced an emergency at the border posts with the African country to facilitate the arrival of thousands of Egyptians and Sudanese in its territories.

The fighting, which is taking place mainly in Khartoum and Darfur in the west of this country of 45 million inhabitants, broke out on April 15 between the army of General Abdel Fatah al Burhan, Sudan’s de facto ruler since coup of 2021, and his rival, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, leader of the rapid support paramilitary forces (FAR).

The new ceasefire was announced on Monday by the head of US diplomacy who urged the Sudanese army and the FAR to immediately respect and implement this agreement and to negotiate a definitive cessation of hostilities.

Blinken said the US would coordinate with its regional allies to “support the creation of a committee to oversee negotiations to implement a permanent cessation of hostilities” in Sudan, and reiterated Washington’s commitment to make the country count again African with a civilian government.