Sudan’s warring rivals extend cease-fire deal

KHARTOUM

Saudi Arabia and the US said Sudan’s warring rivals have agreed to extend a temporary cease-fire for five days.

At least 863 civilians have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 15, according to local medics.

A 7-day cease-fire in Sudan brokered by Riyadh and Washington between the two sides expired on Monday.

The parties affirmed “their intention to use the five-day extension to implement provisions of the first cease-fire that were not fully achieved, including further deliveries of humanitarian assistance, facilitation of essential services repair, and evacuation of armed actors from hospitals,” the US Embassy in Khartoum said in a statement.

The statement called on Sudan’s warring rivals to “honor their obligations to refrain from those acts during the five-day extension.”

The parties also agreed to “discuss a longer-term cease-fire that could entail vacating forces from urban areas, including civilian homes, further removal of impediments to the free movement of civilians and humanitarian assistance, and enabling public servants to resume their regular duties,” it added.

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