Sudan’s Warring Parties Agree to Five-Day ceasefire Extension

Sudan’s warring parties have agreed to a five-day extension of the ceasefire, just hours before the fragile truce was set to expire.

The United States, which is mediating between Sudanese forces and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF), welcomed the agreement along with Saudi Arabia.

The extension will allow for the delivery of further humanitarian aid, restoration of essential services, and negotiations on a longer-term solution.

While the ceasefire has not been fully observed, around 2 million Sudanese have received humanitarian aid in recent days.

However, there have been reports of shootings, airstrikes, bombings, and looting in the capital Khartoum, with both the Sudanese army and RSF accusing each other of breaking the ceasefire.

The UN World Food Programme has been able to distribute food in Khartoum, but heavy fighting in the west of the country has prevented aid from reaching that region.

The conflict is between the army under the command of de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary units of his former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who seized power together in 2021 but later fell out.