Following a week of escalating bloodshed when a previous ceasefire agreement expired, the warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a statewide, 24-hour ceasefire starting on Saturday morning, as said by U.S. and Saudi Arabian mediators.
The ceasefire between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which started fighting each other eight weeks ago and caused a serious humanitarian crisis, was described by the mediators as “an effort to end the cycle of bloodshed.”
More than 1.9 million people have been displaced by the fighting, with 400,000 of them entering neighboring countries. At least five million people live in the metropolitan area surrounding Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and unrest has also erupted in the western region of Darfur, which has a history of strife.
Residents in Omdurman, across the River Nile from Khartoum, reported artillery fire and fighting on Friday. They also reported airstrikes in Bahri, a third neighboring city that makes up the larger capital.
Yemen Ahmed, a 24-year-old resident of Omdurman’s Al-Thawra neighborhood, reported “strong strikes near us and gunshots from every direction.” “We don’t know what to do, and we’re terribly scared.”
