Sudanese RSF Combatants Declare Eid Armistice:-

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire starting at 6 a.m. on Friday, in a bid to evacuate citizens and allow them to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The RSF added that the ceasefire was also aimed at opening humanitarian corridors. There has been no immediate response from the army. 

Fighting erupted last week between the RSF and the Sudanese army, throwing the internationally-backed transition to a civilian democracy into disarray. The violence has led to the deaths of at least 350 people and threatens to draw in Sudan's neighbors, as well as impact regional competition between Russia and the US.

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for a ceasefire to allow civilians to reach safety. He called for the cessation of hostilities and urged the trapped citizens to be allowed to escape to seek medical treatment, food, and other supplies. The US has endorsed the ceasefire proposal. On the same day, a doctors' group revealed that at least 26 people were killed and 33 injured in El-Obeid, west of Khartoum, in clashes between the army and RSF troops, along with widespread looting.

Guterres held a virtual meeting on Thursday with the heads of the African Union, the Arab League, and other organizations, who strongly condemned the ongoing fighting and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 

However, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told Al Jazeera that he would only support a truce if it allowed citizens to move freely, something that the RSF had prevented. He said he saw no partner for negotiations and that there was "no other option but the military solution". Meanwhile, his rival, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, said he was prepared to implement a three-day truce, but these have quickly collapsed in the past.

The current fighting was triggered by a disagreement over an internationally-backed plan to form a new civilian government. Both sides have accused each other of thwarting the transition. 

The RSF had earlier condemned the military for what it described as new assaults, which coincided with the Khartoum neighbourhoods being bombed by aircraft and heavy artillery on Friday. Thousands of civilians have already fled Khartoum, while large numbers have crossed into Chad to escape fighting in the western region of Darfur. Even before the conflict, Sudan was facing acute hunger, with a quarter of its population affected.

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