Day-long ceasefire agreed, says army general

Sudan's warring parties have agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire starting on Tuesday evening, the army has said.

General Shams El Din Kabbasi, a member of Sudan's ruling military council, told Al Arabiya TV that the ceasefire would begin at 6pm local time, and would not last beyond the agreed 24 hours.

Earlier, there had been conflicting statements from the Sudanese Armed Forces about whether a temporary day-long ceasefire had been agreed to evacuate civilians.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan told CNN that the army would adhere to a "ceasefire" proposal put forward by the UN mission in Sudan, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

But a short while later, his spokesperson released a statement on Facebook stating that the army was "not aware of any coordination with mediators and the international community about a truce".

The spokesperson accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of aiming "to cover up the crushing defeat it will receive within hours."