Fighting in Sudan
RSF leader signals readiness for ceasefire
Smoke rises from a residential area in Khartoum. photo
© Marwan Ali/AP
The fighting in Sudan does not stop during the night either. Will an attempt at mediation by the USA bring a way out of the deadlock?
In the power struggle between two senior generals in Sudan, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has called for a 24-hour ceasefire. “The RSF agree to a ceasefire to allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated,” Daglo said on Twitter on Monday morning.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had phoned both Daglo and de facto President Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, urging both rival parties to enter into a truce. “Too many civilians have already died. I stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of diplomatic and aid workers,” Blinken said on Twitter Monday morning. Al-Burhan initially did not comment on a temporary ceasefire. Several attempts at a ceasefire initially failed on Sunday and Monday, according to the UN special envoy in Sudan, Volker Perthes.
Fighting broke out in Sudan on Saturday between the country’s two most powerful generals and their units. The two men have led the northeast African country of around 46 million people since a joint military coup in 2021. Al-Burhan, who is the army’s supreme commander, is fighting with the military against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, leader of the powerful paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Actually, the RSF should have been subordinate to the army and power in the country should have been returned to a civilian government.
In several parts of the country, there have been attacks with heavy weapons on military facilities, some in the immediate vicinity of residential areas. Observers warn of high civilian casualties. Public life in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, has come to an almost complete standstill since the fighting began.