The agreement between the Sudanese government and the paramilitary forces in conflict, sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia, will enter into force on the night of Monday, May 22. An attempt to de-escalate the fighting that has already entered its sixth week and that leaves more than 1.1 million internally displaced and refugees.
A new ceasefire signature in Sudan, a new attempt to unravel the current conflict. The agreement will enter into force on the night of Monday, May 22 and will last for a week, but the multiple violations of previous truces by both factions raise doubts about its veracity.
“I spoke this morning with Sudanese General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan about ongoing talks to reach an effective ceasefire in the short term,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
The truce, between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitary group, seeks to facilitate humanitarian assistance and restore, said the US secretary, essential services that the Sudanese people “desperately need.” Blinken, through his spokeswoman, also asked General al-Burhan for “flexibility” and “leadership” in achieving such a peace.
This comes when the fighting has already entered its sixth week, and the talks for a long-term peace agreement – sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia – have not reached any point due to the constant accusations of violations by both sides. This time, the agreement is backed by a ceasefire monitoring mechanism mediated by both foreign powers, according to the statement.
For its part, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the coalition of political parties that support the Gdemocratic government, celebrated this Saturday the ceasefire agreement between the parties in conflict. “We call for a full commitment to the Jeddah ‘Declaration of Principles’ and short-term ceasefire agreement, as well as humanitarian arrangements,” reads the statement issued by the FFC, for its acronym in English.
In recent days, ground fighting has again reached the Darfur region, but has also escalated in the urban areas of the capital Khartoum, with artillery and aerial bombardments hitting areas on the outskirts of the city. The shrapnel has even reached foreign embassies and government headquarters, such as the Qatari embassy.
“The State of Qatar condemned in the strongest terms the irregular Armed Forces that assaulted and destroyed its embassy building in Khartoum,” they denounced the paramilitaries in a statement, indicating that the diplomatic personnel had been evacuated.
Hospitals under attack and with a shortage of supplies
But the fighting also hit hospitals, religious centers, schools and the homes of hundreds of Sudanese, causing a humanitarian crisis that has displaced 1.1 million Sudanese. Most have fled to other parts of Sudan, but more than 250,000 have fled to neighboring countries. “Hospitals and health centers have had serious difficulties in continuing to function. Some have suffered severe damage. Others are facing a pressing lack of staff; many people have fled and those who have stayed have great difficulties moving safely through the city”, say from the Sudanese headquarters of Doctors Without Borders.
According to the United Nations, more than 700 people have died in the African country and there would be more than 5,000 injured. “I thought I was finished,” was all Pauline Hungwe could think, hiding in the bathroom of her house as crossfire hit the walls of neighboring buildings in south Omdurman. Faced with this humanitarian crisis, the new agreement also calls for the withdrawal of forces from hospitals and essential public facilities.
“It is time to silence the guns and allow unhindered humanitarian access. I implore both parties to respect this agreement: the eyes of the world are watching,” also reiterated Blinken, whose country also said it will allocate more than $100 million to humanitarian aid through the United States Agency for International Development.
Sexual violence against women and girls in Sudan
And it is that local human rights organizations denounce shortages of food, cash and essential items, including hospital supplies, due, in part, to looting on both sides. “We have treated multiple patients with gunshot and stab wounds who were very serious and would not have survived without surgery,” explained MSF surgeon Shahzid Majeed.
That is the anxiety in which the citizens trapped in the country have lived since last April 15. “It was terrifying, everyone was lying under their beds. What is happening is a nightmare,” said Sanaa Hassan, another resident of one of the neighborhoods where paramilitaries are increasing assaults, leaving at least 30 dead in recent days, according to local media.
Added to the tragedies of the war, in both Khartoum and West Darfur there are numerous reports of rape and sexual abuse of women. “There are confirmed reports that some 24 women and girls were abducted and raped in the Otash IDP camp in South Darfur last month,” Neimat Abubaker Abas, senior program adviser at the Strategic Initiative, told Al Jazeera. for Women in the Horn of Africa.
A situation that is coming to light through social networks, with many women denouncing sexual violence – a crime that had previously been pointed out by human rights organizations during the fighting in Darfur in 2003 – through the Internet, before the Lack of organizations that verify these complaints.
The United Nations expressed in a statement that there is a “critical” shortage of supplies for the clinical management of rape kits, as well as a lack of health and psychological personnel, since many doctors have fled the main cities due to the fighting, which worsens care for the thousands of wounded within the country.
With Reuters, AP and local media
