Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agreed on Wednesday to a 24-hour ceasefire starting at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) following a days-long power struggle and violent clashes with the army.
“We confirm our full commitment to a complete ceasefire, and we hope the other party will abide by the ceasefire according to the announced time,” the RSF added in a statement.
It was not immediately clear whether the army would announce its own commitment to the ceasefire. The rivals announced their commitment to a 24-hour ceasefire on Tuesday, but the fighting raged despite the planned truce.
The clash between the generals in charge of the country’s armed forces and paramilitary forces had claimed at least 270 lives by Wednesday, according to the U.N.’s World Health Organization, and a medical group in Sudan said the majority were civilians.
Over the last five days, the city has been turned into a battlefield in the power struggle between the rival generals.
Half of Khartoum’s hospitals were out of action Wednesday as the number of killed and wounded climbed precipitously higher.
Since the start of fighting, each side has claimed the upper hand and that they have taken control of important sites or made advances on the other’s bases across Sudan. None of the claims could be independently verified.
Saturday’s outbreak of violence is the culmination of deep-seated divisions between the army and the RSF, which was created in 2013 by the autocrat Omar al-Bashir.