Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on world news
The armed forces in Sudan have agreed to a three-day truce, starting tonight, to allow citizens to celebrate Eid El Fitrm, which marks the end of Ramadan, and facilitate humanitarian services. The announcement comes after the paramilitaries proposed a 72-hour ceasefire. “The military expects the rebels to abide by all the requirements of the truce and to halt any military movement that jeopardizes it,” reads the army’s Facebook page. Clashes have been going on in Sudan since April 15, when tensions between the RSF – the militias led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, vice president of the Sovereign Council – and the government army, under President al-Burhan, resulted in civil warfare. To date, reports the Sudanese Ministry of Health, 600 people have died in the unrest, to which 3,500 have been injured. Meanwhile, the European Union and the United States plan the evacuation of their citizens from the capital Khartoum.
EU plans the evacuation of its citizens
As soon as the security situation allows, a European official said, the EU and seven member states with missions in Sudan (including Italy, France and Germany) would like to launch “an operation to evacuate our civilians from the city”. of Khartoum. We would proceed “by land”, since the airport is closed. There are around 1,500 European citizens still on site. Among these there are also 200 Italians, said Foreign Minister Tajani. Before the announcement of the truce, the European source had always said, “the assessment of those who work on the ground, including the EU embassy, is that there are no security conditions to proceed with an operation of this type “. The concern is the same as in Washington: “We are preparing to evacuate the embassy in Sudan if necessary, but we have not yet reached that point,” said US national security spokesman John Kirby. However, according to Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, US citizens in Sudan should not expect a US government-coordinated evacuation given the closure of Khartoum airport. Meanwhile, news arrives from Washington of the death of an American citizen.
An IOM aid worker killed
A humanitarian worker of the IOM, the International Organization for Migration, was killed in Sudan. The same UN agency reports this from Geneva in a statement, which specifies that “the vehicle in which he was traveling with his family was hit in an exchange of gunfire between the two warring parties”. Three other UN operators had already died in recent days.
Red Cross: “Assisting civilians is an obligation under international law”
Today is not the first truce that has been announced since the riots broke out. However, no pact has so far been respected. Many appeals for a truce that will allow at least the evacuation and assistance of the civilians that followed one another. “We implore the parties to grant the ICRC immediate and unhindered humanitarian access to assist Sudanese civilians in need. This is not optional – it is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law,” said the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric.
Haftar: “We have no support for the parties in Sudan”
The situation in Sudan worries the international community, also given the alleged support for the RSF by Wagner’s Russian mercenaries, who however continue to deny supporting them. Meanwhile, the strongman of Cyrenaica, Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, has denied that he has provided support to one of the two parties to the conflict in Sudan. “The General Command categorically denies what is being reported by some cheap and paid media about the Libyan Arab Armed Forces providing support to one side against the other,” Libyan Army General Command spokesman Ahmed al -Mismari. Libya, he added, requests that “the formation of a joint mediation committee including the League of Arab States and the African Union to exert all efforts for an immediate ceasefire to achieve calm and emerge from this crisis while preserving the security and stability of Sudan”.
Source-tg24.sky.it