A 7-day truce has been agreed to by the warring parties in the crisis that has engulfed the Northeast Africa country of Sudan.
According to the Sudanese foreign ministry in Juba, the window was announced after the parties reached the agreement in a telephone conversation with the South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, on Tuesday.
The Minister said in a statement that, 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 7-day truce from May 4th to 11th.“
The two sides have also agreed “to name their representatives to peace talks to be held at any venue of their choice”
Multiple truces have been agreed on since fighting began on April 15, but the warring parties have repeatedly violated them, including one previously announced by South Sudan early in the fighting, which saw renewed air strikes on Tuesday.
Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded in the fighting as air strikes and artillery exchanges have pounded swathes of greater Khartoum, sparking the exodus of thousands of Sudanese to neighbouring countries.
Kiir was speaking to Burhan and Daglo as part of an initiative by the East African regional bloc IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authority on Development), which has been pushing for an end to the fighting.
However, the repeated violations of the truces 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.
The UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, 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 statement:
