RSF announces three-day ceasefire in Sudan

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced that it has agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire to coincide with Eid El Fitr. Shooting, however, continued this morning, people in the Sudanese capital reported.

“Based on international, regional and local understandings, we agreed to a humanitarian truce for a period of 72 hours, starting from six o’clock this morning,” the RSF tweeted this morning.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) have not reacted yet to the SRF announcement and Commander Abdelfattah El Burhan did not mention any ceasefire in his TV address this morning.

The fighting that broke out on Saturday between the Sudanese army and the RSF has left at least 330 people dead and more than 3,300 wounded. Many people in Khartoum, El Obeid, and other cities in the country remain trapped. Continuing power and water outages are exacerbating the suffering.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier appealed to the warring parties to agree to a three-day ceasefire during the Eid El Fitr (marking the end of Ramadan) that began today.

The paramilitary forces, reportedly also waging a propaganda war on social media with the help of an experienced team based in Khartoum and Dubai, tweeted “that the truce coincides with the blessed Eid El Fitr and enables the opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate people and give them the opportunity to greet their families.

“On this day, we offer condolences to all Sudanese for the innocent lives that were lost due to these conditions that we did not choose, because we were forced to choose them in self-defence and to confront the coup of the Armed Forces leadership who are driven by extremist terrorists to impede the political process and block the way to return to the democratic path.”

The RSF Command further called on the Sudanese army “to align with the choice of the people who aspire to democratic transformation”.

“The Rapid Support Forces, from the womb of this people, stand by them, support their choices, and strive to achieve their legitimate aspirations for freedom, justice, democracy, and the rule of law.”