Cautious calm prevails in Khartoum as cease-fire takes effect

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Cautious calm prevailed in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Saturday as a one-day cease-fire between Sudan’s warring rivals came into effect.

The cease-fire, mediated by US and Saudi mediators between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, came into force at 6 a.m. local time (0400 GMT).

According to local residents, sounds of artillery and shelling disappeared in Khartoum with the application of the cease-fire deal.

"We hope that calm will continue and the war will come to an end,” a local resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Anadolu.

Previous cease-fire deals between the two rivals were repeatedly violated, with the two sides trading accusations for the violations.

Nearly 1,000 people have been killed and thousands injured since fighting between the army and the RSF first erupted on April 15, according to medics.

A disagreement had been fomenting in recent months between the army and the RSF over the paramilitary group’s integration into the armed forces, a key condition of Sudan's transition agreement with political groups.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup."

Sudan's transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, had been scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi