Newyork: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire from midnight (22:00 GMT) on Monday.It is at least the third ceasefire to be announced since violence erupted this month but none have held.
Mr Blinken said an agreement had been reached between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after 48 hours of negotiations.At least 400 people have been killed since fighting erupted on 15 April.
Both sides have independently announced their involvement in the ceasefire.UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned the violence in Sudan risks causing a “catastrophic conflagration” that could engulf the whole region and beyond.
Since the violence began, residents of the battle-scarred capital Khartoum have been told to stay inside, and food and water supplies have been running low. The bombing has hit key infrastructure, like water pipes, meaning that some people have been forced to drink from the River Nile.
There will be hopes the ceasefire will allow civilians to leave the city. Foreign governments will also hope it will allow for continued evacuations out of the country.Countries have scrambled to evacuate their diplomats and civilians as fighting raged in central, densely populated parts of the capital.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Blinken said that some convoys trying to move people out had encountered “robbery and looting”. The US, he added, was looking at potentially resuming its diplomatic presence in Sudan but he described the conditions there as “very challenging”.
Sudan is suffering an “internet blackout” with connectivity at 2% of ordinary levels, monitoring group NetBlocks said on Monday. In Khartoum, the internet has been down since Sunday night. It is estimated that tens of thousands of people, including Sudanese citizens and those from neighbouring countries, have fled because of the unrest. Source- BBC
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