Warring factions in Sudan have agreed to a seven-day ceasefire following talks in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, according to a statement from Washington and Riyadh, as fighting that has killed hundreds and displaced more than a million is the sixth week entered.
The ceasefire was signed late on Saturday.
It will take effect 48 hours later, at 21:45 local time (19:45 GMT) on Monday, the sponsors of the talks, the United States and Saudi Arabia, said in their joint statement.
Numerous previous ceasefire agreements were violated. However, this agreement will be enforced by a US-Saudi and internationally supported oversight mechanism, the statement said without providing details.
The agreement also calls for the distribution of humanitarian aid, the restoration of essential services and the withdrawal of troops from hospitals and essential public facilities.
“It is time to silence the guns and let humanitarian aid flow unimpeded. I beg both parties to abide by this agreement — the eyes of the world are watching,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged the country into chaos. Stocks of food, cash and supplies are dwindling rapidly and massive looting has hit banks, embassies, aid warehouses and even churches.
Will this truce hold?
Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, reporting from the capital’s sister city, Omdurman, said the agreement will freeze the conflict, with warring parties allowed to maintain their current positions.
“The Rapid Support Forces will maintain control of the Presidential Palace and the Army will retain control of the headquarters, the General Command of the Armed Forces. As far as the airport is concerned, the RSF has more control over the facilities there, so they will keep it,” she said.
But the Sudanese people — in dire need of humanitarian aid — were very skeptical of the agreement, Morgan said.
“People say they are not sure if this ceasefire will last. They have seen how previous ceasefires have worked out. And they say until Tuesday or Wednesday, when and if they don’t hear the sound of artillery in their neighborhood and when and if they see humanitarian aid, they’ll know if there’s a real ceasefire.”
The ceasefire came about when residents of Omdurman and Khartoum North, the two towns across the Nile from Khartoum, reported heavy airstrikes.
Some of the attacks took place near the state broadcaster in Omdurman, the witnesses said.
“We encountered heavy artillery fire early this morning, the whole house was shaking,” Sanaa Hassan, a 33-year-old who lives in the al-Salha district of Omdurman, told Reuters by phone.
“It was terrifying, everyone was under their bed. What is happening is a nightmare,” she said.
The RSF is embedded in residential areas and almost constantly provokes airstrikes by the regular forces.
Witnesses in Khartoum said the situation was relatively calm, although gunshots were occasionally heard.
Fighting in Darfur
The conflict, which began on April 15, has killed at least 705 people and injured at least 5,287, according to the World Health Organization. About 1.1 million people are displaced internally and to neighboring countries.
In recent days, ground fighting has flared up again in the Darfur region, in the towns of Nyala and Zalenjei.
In statements late Friday, both sides blamed each other for fueling fighting in Nyala, one of the country’s largest cities, which had been relatively quiet for weeks thanks to a locally brokered truce.
A local activist told Reuters there were sporadic gunfights on Saturday morning near the city’s main market, close to army headquarters. According to activists, nearly 30 people have been killed in the past two days.
War broke out in Khartoum after disagreements over plans to integrate the RSF into the military as part of an internationally backed deal to shift Sudan to democracy after decades of conflict-ridden rule by self-appointed former president Omar al-Bashir as leader of the country after carrying out a coup in 1989.