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The paramilitaries say they will accept a ceasefire proposed by the Quartet of mediators – the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.
The Rapid Support Force (RSF) said it had agreed to a United States proposal for a ceasefire in Sudan after more than two years of fighting with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The paramilitary group said in a statement on Thursday that it would accept a “humanitarian ceasefire” proposed by the US-led Quartet mediation group, which includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, “to address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of the war and to improve the protection of civilians.”
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There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese military.
Earlier this week, the US senior adviser on Arab and African affairs, Massad Boulos, said efforts were underway to reach a truce and that the warring parties were “agreed in principle”.
“We have not recorded any initial objections from either side. We are now focusing on the fine details,” Boulos said Monday in a statement carried by the Sudan Tribune news outlet.
Reporting from Khartoum, Al Jazeera's Hiba Morgan said the plan would begin with a three-month humanitarian truce that could pave the way for a lasting political solution that would include a new civilian government.
RSF “said they are eager to find some kind of end to this two-year conflict,” Morgan said of the group's agreement to the truce.
The SAF has repeatedly said it wants to continue fighting, Morgan reported, adding that army officials do not believe RSF members can be reintegrated into Sudanese society.
The SAF has previously said it does not want the UAE involved in ceasefire discussions and that it will demand the RSF withdraw from any town they occupy, among other conditions, she said.
“This humanitarian access that a ceasefire would bring is desperately needed, but the Sudanese military has not yet agreed to it. They have conditions,” Morgan said. “RSF doesn't seem to welcome them.”
Earlier on Thursday, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said his forces were “pursuing the defeat of the enemy”.
“We will soon take revenge on those who were killed and abused… in all the regions attacked by the rebels,” he said in a televised address.
The announcement comes as the RSF faces allegations of mass killings in the aftermath seized El-Fasher town in North Darfur state on October 26, after an 18-month siege.
The RSF now dominates the vast western region of Darfur and parts of the country's south, while the army holds the northern, eastern and central regions along the Nile and the Red Sea.
According to The United Nationswith witnesses and human rights groups reporting cases of “summary executions”, sexual abuse and mass killings of civilians.
The World Health Organization reported the “tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff” at a former children's hospital during the capture of the city.
“mass graves”
Yale University researchers said in a report Thursday that new satellite images have detected activity “consistent with mass graves” in the city.
The report by the US university's Human Research Laboratory (HRL) said it found evidence consistent with “corpse disposal activities”.
The report identified “at least two earth disturbances consistent with mass graves at a mosque and a former children's hospital.”
He also noted the appearance of metre-long trenches, as well as the disappearance of groups of objects matching the bodies near the hospital, mosque and other parts of the city – indicating that the bodies deposited around these areas were later moved.
“Disposing or removing the body was also observed at Al-Saudi Hospital on satellite images,” the report said.
The war in Sudan, which broke out in April 2023, pitted the army against the group led by Al Burhan's former deputy, RSF commander Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti.
Both warring parties have been accused of war crimes. In a September report, the UN Human Rights Council accused both sides of extrajudicial killings, large-scale attacks on civilians and torture. It also reported an “overwhelming volume” of evidence of sexual abuse, mostly by members of the RSF and SAF.
