Sudan rivals agree to 72-hour ceasefire, Blinken says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Sudan's warring generals had agreed to a three-day ceasefire starting Tuesday, after previous bids to pause the conflict quickly disintegrated.
"Following intense negotiation over the past 48 hours, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have agreed to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours," Blinken said in a statement two hours before the truce was to go into effect.
The announcement comes after 10 days of brutal fighting that prompted United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to warn Sudan was "on the edge of abyss."
Previous ceasefire announcements have been squashed with Sudan's warring parties blaming each other for continued fighting.
Guterres said that the violence in Sudan - already one of the world's poorest countries, with a history of military coups - “could engulf the whole region and beyond".
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"We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss," Guterres said, calling again for a ceasefire.
The UN has joined a rush of foreign governments evacuating diplomats and citizens from Sudan.
On Monday, a UN convoy carrying 700 people completed an 850-kilometre (530-mile) road trip from the capital, Khartoum, to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.
With Khartoum airport disabled after battles that left charred aircraft on the runways, many have been airlifted out from smaller airstrips to countries including Djibouti and Jordan.
US special forces swooped in with Chinook helicopters on Sunday to rescue diplomats and their dependents, while Britain launched a similar rescue mission.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 1,000 EU citizens had been taken out during a "long and intense weekend" involving airlift missions by France, Germany, and others.
China said Monday it had "safely evacuated" a first group of citizens and would "try every means to protect the lives, properties, and safety of 1,500 plus Chinese compatriots in Sudan”.
Speaking earlier on Monday Blinken said Washington was in “close communication” with Americans in Sudan, the overwhelming majority of whom are dual nationals.
He said the US would try to help American citizens leave and that Washington was exploring options to return a diplomatic consular presence to Sudan as soon as possible.
Blinken also pointed a finger at the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, expressing concern about its involvement in the conflict. He says that wherever Wagner is engaged it "simply brings more death and destruction with it".
'Leave Sudan alone'
Fighting in Sudan broke out after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (better known as Hemeti) fell out with his erstwhile partner, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who runs the Sudanese military, over plans to incorporate the RSF paramilitary into the regular army.
Analysts have warned of the potential for Sudan to spiral into a proxy war akin to the fighting that has ravaged neighbouring Libya. Russia and the UAE are seen as close to Hemeti, while Egypt has strong ties with Burhan.
Speaking alongside Blinken on Monday, Kenya's foreign secretary, Alfred Mutua, slammed Middle Eastern states for meddling inside Sudan, though he didn't name any directly.
"At this particular time, it is not a time to be able to take sides in a war," Mutua said.
He added that foreign players were "trying to use Sudan as a playing field for whatever reason".
"We are asking external forces to leave Sudan alone."
At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded in fighting so far, according to UN agencies which have reported Sudanese civilians "fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan".
"Morgues are full, corpses litter the streets," said Attiya Abdallah, head of the doctors' union, which on Monday reported scores more casualties after sites in south Khartoum were "heavily shelled".
Khartoum, the capital city of five million, has endured "more than a week of unspeakable destruction", Norway's ambassador Endre Stiansen, who was evacuated, wrote on Twitter.
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