Khartoum, May 2, (dpa/GNA) – Leaders of the Sudanese army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a seven-day ceasefire from May 4 to 11, according to a statement issued by the South Sudan Foreign Ministry.
The statement comes days after the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, began mediating between the two sides, as the representative of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional alliance.
Kiir seeks to bring an end to the fighting between the forces of Sudan’s de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and those of his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the RSF.
Al-Burhan and Daglo agreed to name representatives for negotiations to be held in South Sudan’s capital Juba, the statement said. No date for the start of the negotiations has yet been set, the ministry said.
The rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation makes de-escalation of the conflict imperative, it said. Several 72-hour ceasefires have been called since fighting broke out on April 15, but these have been broken repeatedly.
At the end of last week, the Ministry of Health reported around 530 dead and some 4,600 injured as a result of the fighting. In the chaos of the fighting, however, it is difficult for the authorities to keep an overview, and the true numbers are thought to be far higher.
Meanwhile the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said at least 334,000 people have become internally displaced in Sudan since the violence broke out.
GNA