KHARTOUM: Warring generals in Sudan have agreed “in principle” to a seven-day truce, the government of neighbouring South Sudan said Tuesday, after regional envoys denounced repeated violations of previous truces.
The announcement came as diplomatic efforts intensified to end more than two weeks of war in Africa’s third-largest country.
Warnings have multiplied of the potential for a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis that the UN said has already caused more than 430,000 people to flee their homes.
Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, “have agreed in principle for a seven-day truce from May 4th to 11th,” the South Sudanese foreign ministry in Juba said in a statement.
Multiple truces agreed since fighting began on April 15 have been repeatedly violated, including one previously announced by South Sudan early in the fighting, which saw renewed air strikes on Tuesday.
“We are hearing some sporadic gunfire, the roaring of a warplane and the anti-aircraft fire at it,” said one resident of south Khartoum. Other witnesses reported air strikes in north and east Khartoum. The latest battles come during a 72-hour ceasefire extension announced by the warring sides on Sunday. The army said that measure came due to “US and Saudi mediation”.
The repeated violations sparked criticism earlier Tuesday at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, of the Extended Mechanism on the Sudan Crisis which brought together African, Arab, United Nations and other representatives.
“The two generals even though they accept the ceasefire, at the same time they continue fighting and shelling the city,” said Ismail Wais, of the eight-nation northeast African bloc IGAD.
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, told the meeting that, “Despite intense meditation efforts... that have obtained successive commitments by SAF and RSF to cease hostilities, the situation in Sudan remains of deep concern as the parties continue their fighting.”
The Addis talks aim to ensure a coordinated response, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said, opening the meeting.
“Our priority today is to have the ceasefire prolonged and respected, then to ensure humanitarian assistance,” he said.
Kenyan President William Ruto said earlier that the conflict had reached “catastrophic levels” and it was imperative to find ways to provide humanitarian relief “with or without a ceasefire”.
The UN said that more than 100,000 refugees were estimated to have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries, including Sudanese refugees, South Sudanese returning home prematurely and others who were themselves refugees in Sudan.
The agency said it was bracing for the “possibility that over 800,000 people may flee”.
Despite the dire needs, on Tuesday the UN said its 2023 aid appeal for Sudan was $1.5 billion short.
But some relief has been arriving in the country.
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