US and Saudi Arabia issue joint call for extension of ceasefire in Sudan
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The United States and Saudi Arabia on Sunday issued a joint statement calling for the brokered week-long ceasefire in Sudan to be extended beyond its expiry at 9.45pm local time on Monday, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.
Fighting broke out in mid-April as the Sudanese Army and the rival, powerful, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group battled for control of Sudan: both Sudan’s military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah al Burhan and RSF leader Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo led the military coup that toppled the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in 2021.
At least 730 people have been killed and 1.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict so far. The current ceasefire, like those before it, did not stop the fighting in Khartoum or elsewhere in the country, TOI said.
In their statement, the US and Saudi Arabia said: “While imperfect, an extension nonetheless will facilitate the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the Sudanese people,” TOI reports. The two countries also called on Sudan’s military government and the RSF to continue negotiations.
TOI notes that the US-Saudi statement came two days after Gen.Burhan demanded that Volker Perthes, the UN envoy to Sudan, be removed from the country. The demand for his removal followed Perthes’ accusation that both the Sudanese army and the RSF were breaching the laws of war by attacking homes, stores, places of worship, and water and electricity infrastructure.
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