Sudan updates: Army, RSF extend cease-fire again
Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have agreed to extend their cease-fire by 72 hours. Meanwhile, the UN is sending its top humanitarian envoy amid the "unprecedented" situation. DW has the latest. Sudanese Armed Forces agreed on Sunday to extend a temporary truce, which was originally set to expire at midnight local time, with their paramilitary rivals, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), for a further 72 hours. It is the latest of multiple truces that have largely been violated by both sides. The army said the extension came due to "US and Saudi mediation." The RSF earlier also said that they have agreed to extend a humanitarian truce for another three days. "In response to international, regional and local calls, we announce the extension of the humanitarian truce for 72 hours, starting from midnight tonight," the RSF said on Twitter. The paramilitary force said it had given its approval for the cease-fire "in order to open humanitarian corridors and facilitate the movement of citizens and residents and enable them to fulfil their needs and reach safe areas." Clashes continued over the weekend despite the calling of a 72-hour ceasefire on Thursday, with both sides accusing the other of violating the agreement. Sudan's de facto leader, Army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan, has been in conflict with his ex-deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the RSF. The Sudanese Health Ministry reported more than 500 people have died in the fighting so far, which is now in its third week. The Sudan Doctors' Syndicate, which monitors casualties in the violence, said 425 civilians were killed and 2,091 wounded. Here are other key headlines about the crisis in Sudan for Sunday, April 30: Some 6,000 people have fled the growing conflict in Sudan in recent weeks and have arrived in neighboring Central African Republic, according to the UN refugee agency. The majority of those who have arrived in the Central African Republic over the past two weeks are women, the UNHCR confirmed to news agency AFP. Around 70% of those who have fled are women and another 15% are girls. Prices for essential products in Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world, have risen sharply amid disruptions due to the Sudan conflict. The UN estimates that more than 75,000 people have been internally displaced in Sudan, while another 20,000 have fled to neighboring Chad. The United Nations's top humanitarian envoy is en route to the Sudan region due to the quickly unfolding conflict and amid growing concern for those caught in the fallout. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the move on Sunday after the two sides agreed to extend a cease-fire. He has "immediately" dispatched his emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, "in light of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Sudan." "The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan. We are extremely concerned by the immediate as well as long-term impact on all people in Sudan, and the broader region," Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement. The US State Department said that nearly 1,000 US citizens have left Sudan with the help of the US government and multinational partners. A second US government-organized evacuation convoy also arrived in Port Sudan on Sunday. The evacuees will be transported to Saudi Arabia, where other personnel are on site to help facilitate emergency travel, the State Department said. The international community should focus on getting humanitarian aid to Sudan even while clashes between warring factions continue, a researcher and analyst told DW. "We need to be focusing on how we're going to get humanitarian relief into a country that is now wracked by a true civil war," Eric Reeves, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, said He warned there should be genuine concern that "very little humanitarian aid shows any sign of getting in." "There's already acute malnutrition in Darfur. Children are starving to death in some locations," he added. He said the international community has "done a terrible job of confronting the reality." "You can't have two generals, two armies in one country without conflict becoming inevitable, especially when the men at the top are so ambitious," Reeves said about Sudan's military leader General Burhan and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The director of the UN's World Food Program (WFP) in Germany on Sunday said that ongoing violence in Sudan could plunge East Africa as a whole into a humanitarian crisis. Sudan's military under General Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) loyal to his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo have been fighting since April 15 worsening an already serious food shortage there. "A third of the country's population was starving even before the fighting broke out, now there is a shortage of everything and food prices are skyrocketing," Martin Frick, the director of the WFP in Germany, told the DPA news agency. There have been similar price increases in neighboring Chad and South Sudan, both of which have taken in thousands of refugees since the fighting began in Sudan two weeks ago. "In South Sudan, which is facing flooding in some areas and droughts in others due to the climate crisis, food prices have risen by 28% in a very short time," said Frick. Frick said the most vulnerable seeking shelter in Sudan, including pregnant women and already malnourished children, could be left with nothing if suspended aid is not resumed. A plane carrying humanitarian aid provided by the Red Cross has arrived in Sudan. "The eight tonnes of humanitarian cargo includes surgical material to support Sudanese hospitals and volunteers from the Sudan Red Crescent Society," the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said. This is the first of such flights operated by the Red Cross. The shipment took off from Jordanian capital Amman and arrived in the eastern city of Port Sudan. Patrick Youssef, the ICRC's Africa regional director, said that this would be "enough to stabilize 1,500 patients." Youssef said that the organization was hoping for security guarantees to send aid to Khartoum and Darfur. He said that only same aid could be delivered to Darfur, while nothing could be sent to Khartoum. Only 16% of Khartoum's hospitals are currently functioning, according to the World Health Organization. Health facilities have been shelled in the fighting. The UK says that it has arranged an extra evacuation flight from Port Sudan. The flight is set to depart on May 1. London said that it had evacuated 2,122 people from Sudan so far. Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency cited anonymous US officials as saying that Washington had sent a navy ship to Port Sudan to evacuate its citizens. The officials said that hundreds of citizens are likely to be evacuated on the vessel. Hundreds of people have been killed since the fighting began between the two generals , who have grappled for power since two successive military coups. Thousands are also fleeing the country. While governments from across the world have launched evacuation missions to airlift their citizens to safety , the WFP has had to suspend its support to 7.6 million people in Sudan. Burhan has branded the RSF supported by Russia's Wagner Group among others as a militia that is seeking "to destroy Sudan" while Dagalo has countered with the accusation that the military chief is "a traitor." Intense fighting has affected 12 out 18 states across Sudan, including the Darfur region, the ministry said. The sides are particularly locked in battle for the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and they have fought on despite a series of truces, with the latest set to expire at midnight local time (2200 GMT/UTC). The army has been battling RSF forces entrenched in residential areas of the city, although the situation was said to be relatively calm on Sunday morning. Both Burhan and Dagalo took part in the ouster of Islamist-backed strongman Omar al-Bashir in 2019. They had been trusted to guide a shift to civilian rule but staged a coup together in October 2021 to derail that transition. Their alliance disintegrated, and disagreement over integrating the RSF into the regular army erupted into a full-scale conflict. rc/wd (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP)