Relative calm in Sudan as 72-truce begins

Sudan’s warring factions have agreed to a new 72-hour ceasefire starting at 6 a.m. local time on Sunday, mediators Saudi Arabia and the United States said in a joint statement.

The truce went into effect at 6am local time. Several hours after it began, only sporadic gunfire could be heard in the sprawling capital, which has been pummelled by artillery shelling and air strikes since hostilities broke out two months ago.

Several previous ceasefire agreements were largely ignored by the warring sides, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Residents said army troops on Sunday consolidated positions in neighbourhoods around Khartoum airport, which was captured by the RSF early in the conflict. The army deployment did not draw a reaction from the RSF, they said.

A video clip shared online shows troops celebrating what they said were advances on the airport, which is located near the city center. The area around the airport was the scene of intense ground fighting in recent days.

As in earlier truces, the latest one demands that the warring parties allow safe passage for humanitarian aid to the capital as well as elsewhere in the vast Afro-Arab nation. The UN says 25 million people in Sudan, more than half the population, are in need of aid.

A US-Saudi statement announcing the truce called on the army and the RSF to consider the suffering of the Sudanese people, especially in view of the humanitarian donor conference to be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia on Monday.

The statement also warned that failure to observe the ceasefire could lead to the suspension of peace talks currently taking place in the Saudi city of Jeddah. The talks, mediated by the Saudi Arabia and the US, have been going for weeks with the goal of reaching a lasting ceasefire.