Sudan's warring sides agree to protect civilians but remain apart on ceasefire

Leaders sign 'declaration of commitment' to allow aid and restore basic services

A crowded hospital in Sudan's Darfur region, where several people have been wounded in battles. AFP

Sudan's warring parties agreed on Friday to protect civilians and allow the movement of humanitarian aid, but remained far apart on a ceasefire.

After a week of talks in the Saudi port of Jeddah, Sudan's army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces signed a declaration that they would work towards a short-term ceasefire in further discussions, US officials said.

“The two sides are quite far apart,” a senior US State Department official involved in the talks told Reuters.

A text of the declaration released after the talks said the two factions “commit to prioritising discussions to achieve a short-term ceasefire to facilitate the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance and restoration of essential services.”

The agreement commits both sides in general terms to let in humanitarian assistance, to allow the restoration of electricity, water and other basic services, to withdraw security forces from hospitals and to arrange for the “respectful burial” of the dead.

A proposal is still on the table to halt fighting for 10 days, the US official said.

“This is not a ceasefire. This is an affirmation of their obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to the treatment of civilians and the need to create space for humanitarians to operate,” the official said.

“We are hopeful, cautiously, that their willingness to sign this document will create some momentum that will force them to create the space” to bring in relief supplies.

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  Khartoum burns amid fighting between the forces of two rival generals in Sudan. AFP

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  A Sudanese girl at her family's makeshift shelter across the border in Koufroun, Chad. Reuters

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  Sudanese refugee women build a makeshift shelter in Koufroun, Chad. Reuters

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  Air strikes battered Khartoum as fighting entered a fourth week. AFP

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  People dig holes to get pure water at the banks of the White Nile in Khartoum. Reuters

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  Army sodliers and tanks on a street in Khartoum. AFP

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  A looted petrol station in southern Khartoum. AFP

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  Sudan's warring generals have repeatedly failed to honour multiple agreed ceasefires. AFP

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  People board the Spanish frigate Reina Sofia during an evacuation from Port Sudan to Saudi Arabia. AFP

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  Evacuees disembark at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. AP

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Twitter that the talks and the commitment to protecting civilians were a first step, and “other steps will follow”.

“The most important thing is to adhere to what was agreed upon, and the kingdom will work until security and stability return to Sudan and its brotherly people,” the Saudi minister said.

Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, welcomed the agreement, and "hopes this Declaration will ensure that the relief operation can scale up swiftly and safely to meet the needs of millions of people in Sudan," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The UN's World Food Programme said millions of dollars worth of food had been looted in Khartoum.

Envoys from the warring generals — army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and paramilitary commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo — have been meeting since Saturday in Jeddah for “pre-negotiation talks” with the participation of the US and the UN.

The top UN aid official, Martin Griffiths, had outlined proposals in Jeddah in which the two sides would guarantee safe passage for humanitarian relief.

Meanwhile, clashes took place in Halfaya, an entry point to the capital Khartoum, on Thursday as residents heard warplanes circling over Khartoum and its adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman, Reuters reported.

Still, the fighting appeared calmer than on Wednesday.

In public neither side has shown it is ready to offer concessions to end the conflict that erupted last month, threatening to pitch Sudan into a civil war, killing hundreds of people and causing a humanitarian crisis.

Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.

The World Health Organisation has said more than 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting.

The Health Ministry said at least 450 were killed in the western Darfur region.

Many have fled Khartoum and Darfur, uprooting 700,000 people inside the country and sending 150,000 as refugees into neighbouring states, according to UN figures.

Western countries condemned abuses by both sides at a human rights meeting in Geneva, but Sudan's envoy there said the conflict was “an internal affair”.