The two warring factions in Sudan have agreed to temporary ceasefire for seven days as the fighting enters its sixth week.
Saudi Arabia and the United States announced this late Saturday, May 20, 2023, in a joint statement.
The first truce to be signed by both parties in a conflict that has raged for over a month, leaving millions of people across the northeast African nation in a dire humanitarian crisis.
The fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to a collapse in law. Stocks of food, cash and essentials are rapidly dwindling, and mass looting has hit banks, embassies, factories and aid warehouses.
The seven-day ceasefire will begin on Monday evening. Numerous previous ceasefire agreements were violated.
Aid groups have said they are unable to provide sufficient assistance in Khartoum, the capital, in the absence of safe passage and security guarantees for staff.
Earlier on Saturday, the US state department said secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to army leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan about the Jeddah talks.
“In this step-by-step process, the secretary urged flexibility and leadership,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Airstrikes were reported on Saturday by eyewitnesses in southern Omdurman and northern Bahri, the two cities that lie across the Nile from Khartoum, forming Sudan’s “triple capital”. Some of the strikes took place near the state broadcaster in Omdurman, the eyewitnesses said.
On Saturday, Qatar’s embassy was the latest diplomatic mission to be attacked, drawing condemnation from Doha.
“The embassy staff had previously been evacuated and… none of the diplomats or embassy staff were subjected to any harm,” the ministry said.
It renewed calls for “an immediate halt to the fighting”.
Qatar did not specifically identify the RSF as responsible but a statement from the pro-Burhan authorities put the blame squarely on the paramilitaries.
The embassies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have also come under assault in recent weeks.
The RSF is embedded in residential districts, drawing almost continual airstrikes by the regular armed forces.