Sudan army backs ceasefire extension amidst skirmishes

GOOBJOOG NEWS | KHARTOUM: The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) has said it is willing to extend the shaky ceasefire for a further 72 hours as skirmishes between the Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue on the outskirts of the capital, Khartoum.

The army said Wednesday that its leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had approved an initial plan to extend the truce – due to expire late on Thursday – for another 72 hours and send an army envoy to Juba, the South Sudan capital, for talks.

The RSF however did not comment on the proposal which was suggested by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The talks, according to a statement by IGAD are being spearheaded by the presidents of Kenya, Djibouti and South Sudan

African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken have also asked the two sides in the conflict to embrace talks as a way of ending the conflict in Sudan.

African Union leadership remained “essential in pressing the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to immediately cease military operations and allow unhindered humanitarian access,” the US States Department said in a statement Wednesday.

Heavy fighting was reported on Wednesday in Omdurman, at the outskirts of Khartoum where the army was fighting RSF reinforcements from other regions of Sudan, according to the Reuters news agency.