UN envoy: Humanitarian deal between warring sides is a first step toward a cease-fire in Sudan

The U.N. envoy for Sudan said that the humanitarian deal reached by the countries warring generals is an important first step toward a cease-fire

The U.N. envoy for Sudan on Friday welcomed a deal between the country's warring generals promising safe passage to civilians fleeing the conflict in the East African nation and protection for humanitarian operations.

The envoy, Volker Perthes, said the agreement was an important first step toward a cease-fire to the fighting which is about to enter its fourth week.

The Sudanese military and the country’s paramilitary, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, signed a pact late Thursday vowing to alleviate humanitarian suffering across the country, although a truce remains elusive.

Both sides also agreed to refrain from attacks likely to harm civilians.

“The most important element is that both sides commit to continue talks," Perthes said during an online U.N. news conference from his office in Port Sudan. International efforts to turn the deal into a cease-fire have already started, he added.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the agreement, which outlines a series of shared pledges and promises to "facilitate humanitarian action in order to meet the needs of civilians.”

The deal signing-ceremony, brokered by the United Sates and Saudi Arabia, was aired by Saudi state media in the early hours Friday morning.

It does not provide any detail on how the agreed-on humanitarian promises would be upheld by troops on the ground. Previously, both sides agreed to several short cease-fires, since the fighting broke out on 15 April, but all have been violated.

The violence in Sudan has so far killed over 600 people, including civilians, according to the World Health Organization. The fighting has since turned the capital Khartoum into an urban battlefield, triggering deadly ethnic clashes in the western Darfur region.

Around 200,000 people have fled the country, said UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado, who was also present at Friday's news conference.

The U.S. State Department said, late Thursday, talks in Jeddah will now focus on arranging “an effective cease-fire of up to approximately 10 days.”

The U.N. and several rights groups have accused both sides — the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — of numerous human rights violations. The army has been accused of indiscriminately bombing civilian areas, while the RSF have been condemned for widespread looting, abusing residents, and turning civilian homes into operational bases. Both continue to level blame at each other for the violations.

Perthes, who has received death threats and calls to resign, said he is committed to staying in Port Sudan and overseeing the humanitarian effort taking place in the coastal city. He described those who threatened him as marginal “extremists” and said that there is a wide appreciation of of U.N. efforts in Sudan.