The warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire from midnight on Monday, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. This is at least the third ceasefire to be announced since violence erupted in mid-April but none have held. More than 400 people have been killed since fighting began on 15 April, prompting the UN Secretary-General António Guterres to warn of a "catastrophic conflagration" that could engulf the entire region and beyond.
The ceasefire agreement follows 48 hours of negotiations between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Both sides have independently confirmed their involvement in the ceasefire, stated a report in the BBC.
Background to the conflict
Violence broke out primarily in Khartoum, between rival military factions battling for control of Africa's third largest country. Since a 2021 coup, Sudan has been run by a council of generals, led by the two military men at the centre of this dispute - Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the armed forces and in effect the country's president, and his deputy and leader of the RSF, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti. They have disagreed on the direction the country is going in and the proposed move towards civilian rule.
The main sticking points are plans to include the 100,000-strong RSF into the army, and who would then lead the new force. Gen Dagalo has accused Gen Burhan's government of being "radical Islamists" and that he and the RSF were "fighting for the people of Sudan to ensure the democratic progress for which they have so long yearned". Many find this message hard to believe, given the brutal track record of the RSF.
Impact on civilians
The violence has prompted residents of the battle-scarred capital Khartoum to be told to stay inside, and food and water supplies have been running low. Bombing has hit key infrastructure, like water pipes, meaning that some people have been forced to drink from the River Nile.
The conflict has caused an estimated tens of thousands of people, including Sudanese citizens and those from neighbouring countries, to flee the country. Foreign governments have been scrambling to evacuate their diplomats and civilians as fighting rages in central, densely populated parts of the capital.
Hopes for the ceasefire
There will be hopes the ceasefire will allow civilians to leave the city, and foreign governments will also hope it will allow for continued evacuations out of the country. However, earlier on Monday, Mr Blinken said that some convoys trying to move people out had encountered "robbery and looting".
The US is also looking at potentially resuming its diplomatic presence in Sudan but Blinken described the conditions there as "very challenging". The internet in Sudan has been down since Sunday night, and monitoring group NetBlocks said that Sudan is suffering an "internet blackout" with connectivity at just 2% of ordinary levels.
