Reuters: Warring parties in Sudan are approaching an agreement to halt the ceasefire

Sudan’s warring parties are reported to be close to a ceasefire deal as fighting escalates in Khartoum with heavy clashes and airstrikes, with representatives of the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) meeting in Jeddah since the weekend for talks brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia.

The negotiations aim to secure an effective truce and allow the arrival of aid workers and supplies after nearly four weeks of fighting in the capital and other parts of the country, after days of apparently inaction. A source familiar with the mediation told Reuters International News Agency: Progress has been made and a ceasefire agreement is expected soon.

Behind the Scenes of Negotiations

A second source familiar with the talks revealed that an agreement is near, as talks continued late Wednesday night, according to Reuters.

U.S. negotiators were “cautiously optimistic” about ensuring compliance with humanitarian principles and a cease-fire, said Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, adding that the U.S. is also looking for suitable targets for sanctions if warring factions do not support it.

“Residents of Khartoum, scene of the heaviest fighting, reported ground battles in several neighborhoods on Wednesday, and heavy gunfire was reported in northern Omdurman and eastern Bahri, two adjacent towns separated by the Nile from the capital.”

The Sudanese army has been shelling targets across the three cities since Tuesday as it tries to uproot the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from residential areas and strategic positions seized early in the conflict, AFP reported.

Intensified air strikes

“There have been intense airstrikes and RPGs since 6:30 a.m.,” said Ahmed, a resident of Bahri Shambat neighborhood. “We are lying on the ground and there are people living near us who fled to the Nile to protect themselves there under the dam.”

“According to UNHCR, the conflict has caused a humanitarian crisis in Africa’s third largest country, displacing more than 700,000 people inside the country and prompting 150,000 to flee to neighboring countries, as well as sparking unrest in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.”

“Up to 2.5 million Sudanese are expected to go hungry in the coming months because of the conflict, bringing the number of people suffering from acute food insecurity to 19 million, the UN World Food Program (WFP) has said.”

The crisis in Sudan flared up in April, when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched an offensive in the capital Khartoum in an attempt to displace the Sudanese army and hand the country over to a civilian government, and caused 150,000 people to flee to Chad, Eritrea, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia and another 700,000 to South Sudanese cities.