Sudan paramilitary group agrees to humanitarian truce

Women and children from el-Fasher at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, (NRC via AP)

The Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that has been at war with the Sudanese military for over two years, said it has agreed to a humanitarian truce.

The agreement to the proposal comes over a week after the RSF seized el-Fasher city that has been under siege for over 18 months. It was also the last Sudanese military stronghold in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

“The Rapid Support Forces also looks forward to implementing the agreement and immediately commencing discussions on the arrangements for a cessation of hostilities and the fundamental principles guiding the political process in Sudan, in a manner that addresses the root causes of the conflicts, ends the suffering of the Sudanese people,” the RSF statement read.

A Sudan military official told The Associated Press that the army will only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and give up weapons as per previous peace proposals.

This satellite shows the aftermath of an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces north of el-Fasher, Sudan (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Massad Boulos, a US adviser for African affairs, said the US was working with the Sudanese army and RSF to bring about a humanitarian truce and could have an announcement “soon”.

“We were working on this for the last almost 10 days with both sides, hoping to finalise the details,” Mr Boulos told the AP in an interview on Monday. The US-led plan would start with a three-month humanitarian truce followed by a nine-month political process, he said.

The US has been working with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — known as the Quad — on ways to end the war.

New waves of displacement in Sudan are raising alarm among aid groups and local doctors, who warn that the influx of people is putting additional strain on already overcrowded camps struggling with scarce resources.

The non-profit Islamic Relief warned in a statement on Thursday that community kitchens that provide a lifeline to many families are at risk of collapse. A new survey by the group found that 83% of families in east and west Sudan are now without enough food.

On Wednesday, Sudan’s Doctors Network warned that humanitarian conditions are worsening in displacement camps west of el-Fasher, including in Tawila, Kurma, and Golo with a significant increase in the number of displaced people fleeing that exceeds 36,000 in recent days.

Humanitarian organisations have long labelled Sudan as having one of the most alarming displacement crises in the world.

Most recently, more people were displaced after el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the last Sudanese military stronghold, was overtaken by the RSF after a series of attacks by the group that ran rampant in the city that has been under siege for over a year.

The paramilitary group killed over 450 people at a local hospital, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and carried out house-to-house killings and committed sexual assaults.

The war between the RSF and the military began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies that were meant to oversee a democratic transition after a 2019 uprising.

The fighting has killed at least 40,000 people, according to the WHO, and displaced 12 million.

However, aid groups say the true death toll could be many times higher. Over 24 million people are also facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.