Sudanese army declares ‘unilateral’ ceasefire on first day of Eid

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announces ceasefire during televised speech

Sudan has announced a “unilateral” ceasefire on the first day of Eid with the army chief urging young men to defend the nation.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the ceasefire during a televised speech on Tuesday. “The conspiracy requires everyone to be awake and ready to respond to the existential threats to our country, and so we call on all young men who can defend... to not hesitate to play this role, either from where he lives or by joining the armed forces,” he added.

This comes after General Burhan’s opponent and head of Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo declared a two-day “unilateral” ceasefire in its battle against the army.

On Monday, the RSF chief said: “We are declaring a unilateral ceasefire, except for self-defence situations, on the eve of Eid and on the day of Eid al-Adha.”

He added: “We hope to emerge from the war more united and stronger.”

Sudan has been engulfed in a horrendous war between the military led by General Burhan, and the paramilitary RSF commanded by General Dagalo, since mid-April. So far, reports say that more than 3000 civilians have been killed in the fighting.

The war has triggered unrest in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan, especially in the western region of Darfur where attacks and ethnic violence continue.

According to the latest estimates by the International Organisation for Migration, almost 2.8 million people have been uprooted by the fighting, with more than 2.15 million internally displaced and nearly 650,000 fleeing into neighbouring countries.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that the surging violence in Sudan is likely to drive more than 1 million refugees out of the African country by October, as the 10-week conflict shows few signs of easing.

“We were talking about 100,000 people in six months (fleeing to) Chad. And now the colleagues in Chad have revised their figures to 245,000,” said Raouf Mazou, assistant secretary-general at United Nations High Commission for Refugees, at a news conference in the Swiss city of Geneva.