Army and paramilitaries agree to a 7-day truce in South Sudan

2023-05-02 17:24:33

The Foreign Ministry of South Sudan announced on Tuesday that the leader of the Sudanese Army, Abdul Fatah Al Burhanand the commander of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (FAR), have reached a seven-day truce agreement, from May 4 to 11which would be the longest humanitarian pause since the conflict began on April 15.

“The president of the Sudanese Sovereign Council and leader of the Armed Forces, Abdelfatah al Burhan, and the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalohave reached an agreement in principle for a seven-day truce, from May 4 to 11,” according to a statement from the South Sudanese Foreign Ministry posted on its official Facebook account.

Tomorrow ends one new 72 hour trucethe third in a row, to allow the evacuations of foreigners and Sudanese fleeing the fighting in Khartoum and in other areas of the country, such as the conflictive region of Darfur.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, who is leading the mediation of members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) – an East African economic bloc – urged Sudanese leaders to “name representatives and propose a date for start talks as soon as possible.

The South Sudanese government has obtained “the consent of the two parties to the conflict to appoint their representatives for the peace talks and that they will take place in the place that they propose”, it is pointed out in the extensive statement.

The special envoy of the UN mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes, has affirmed in interviews in different media that the parties in conflict have agreed to go to negotiations, which could be carried out in Saudi Arabia or in South Sudan, but without the two main leaders of both sides meeting face to face.

For his part, Al Burhan’s envoy, Dafa Allah al Haj Ali, said today in Cairo at a press conference that there will be no “direct” negotiations with the FAR, which he called “terrorists”.

At least 528 people have been killed and more than 4,500 injured since the fighting began, according to the latest count by the Sudanese Ministry of Health.