Sudan’s paramilitary RSF agrees to 72-hour truce on humanitarian grounds
2023.04.21 03:53
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises over buildings during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
CAIRO (Reuters) – Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said it had agreed to a 72-hour truce on humanitarian grounds, effective from 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) Friday, offering a potential respite from a six-day military conflict with the Sudanese army.
“The truce coincides with the blessed Eid Al-Fitr (Muslim holiday) … to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate citizens and give them the opportunity to greet their families,” the RSF said in a statement.
The RSF said it had to act in “self-defense” to repel what it described as a coup attempt, adding that it is committed to a “complete ceasefire” during the armistice period.
There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese army.
More than 330 people have been killed so far in the violent power struggle which broke out last weekend between two previously allied leaders of Sudan’s ruling military junta.
The fiercest battles between the army and the RSF have been in and around the capital Khartoum – one of Africa’s largest urban areas – and in Darfur, still scarred by a long conflict that ended three years ago.
