Rapid Support Forces announce unilateral three-month truce in Sudan
Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo's Rapid Support Forces (RSF), alias Hemedti, have announced a unilateral three-month truce in the civil war in Sudan between this paramilitary group and the Sudanese Army led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The nature of this truce launched by the RSF is humanitarian, in the midst of a bloody civil war in which there are reports of violations of all kinds of rights and atrocities committed by both sides. This internal armed conflict has already left tens of thousands dead and forced the displacement of millions of people.
‘Based on our responsibility and in response to international efforts led by the (peace) initiative of US President Donald Trump, (...) we announce a three-month humanitarian truce,’ Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo said officially.
US peace plan and humanitarian truce
This unilateral declaration of peace comes in response to the peace proposal presented by Donald Trump, President of the United States, which was rejected by the FAR and the Sudanese Army, as confirmed by Massad Boulos, Senior Advisor to the United States for Arab and African Affairs. ‘Washington presented the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces with a strong, well-drafted text, but it was not accepted by either side,’ Boulos said at a press conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The United States proposed a truce to end the fighting and guaranteed the arrival of humanitarian aid.
Massad Boulos said that the United States supports the unilateral humanitarian truce announced by the Rapid Support Forces and hoped that ‘both sides will comply with it without any conditions other than to avoid further casualties.’
‘We and our international partners are ready to support a truce,’ he said, referring to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, which are part of the so-called Quartet for Sudan, which last September called for a three-month humanitarian truce and talks for a peace process.
Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo called on the mediators to ‘press for the other side to respond to the truce’ which, if accepted by the army, would be the first since those announced with Saudi-American mediation in mid-2023 and which were not complied with by the parties.
Hemedti pledged to protect convoys and warehouses of aid sent to victims and displaced persons, to facilitate access for humanitarian personnel to areas affected by the conflict, and to cooperate with the United Nations and humanitarian organisations. He also assured that they accept ‘the creation of a mechanism to monitor the truce on the ground under the supervision of the Quartet, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’.
Conflict in Sudan
It remains to be seen whether this first step taken by the FAR will serve to achieve a truce in Sudan and put an end to the civil war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Army, which in 2023 began a military confrontation due to political disagreements between the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Abdel Fattah Al -Burhan and the paramilitaries led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. A lack of understanding on how to resolve the future of Sudan after a coup led by Al-Burhan in 2021 ended the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, who took power with the aim of carrying out a transition towards a constitutional process and subsequent elections. This stage gave way to the current military regime led by Al-Burhan, who was appointed president of the Sovereign Transitional Council and supervisor of a democratisation process with the establishment of a constitution and the holding of elections, which has also failed to materialise.
All this came after the Sudanese army itself ended the iron-fisted regime established for almost 30 years by the country's former strongman, Omar Al-Bashir. In April 2019, the army ended Al-Bashir's regime, which had been denounced for political persecution, repression and corruption.
