a new truce comes into effect for 72 hours

It came into effect nationwide at 6 a.m. A new 72-hour truce has been in effect since Sunday June 18 in Sudan. It was announced the day before by Saudi and American mediators in an attempt to put an end to two months of fighting that plunged the country into a major crisis.

This is yet another pause in the conflict between the army, commanded by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR), led by General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, at war since April 15. Besides halting fighting for three days, both sides have agreed to deliver humanitarian aid throughout Sudan.

Talks planned in Saudi Arabia

The truce comes as an international conference on aid to Sudan, sponsored by Saudi Arabia, is scheduled for Monday in Geneva. Ryad warned that “in the event that the parties fail to respect the 72-hour ceasefire, the facilitators will be forced to consider postponing the Jeddah talks”in Saudi Arabia, where the two rival camps held negotiations for several weeks.

In this East African country, one of the poorest in the world, more than 2,000 people were killed, according to the NGO Acled. The UN estimates that more than 2.2 million people have had to flee the conflict and that 25 of the 45 million inhabitants now depend on humanitarian aid to survive.