Khartoum: After ten days of urban warfare that claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and caused a large-scale exodus of foreigners, the warring generals in Sudan officially declared a 72-hour ceasefire on Tuesday.
Shortly before the cease-fire went into effect at midnight (2200 GMT Monday), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had agreed to it "following intense negotiations."
Previous attempts to halt the fighting fell short, but the three-day truce was acknowledged by both parties.
Also Read: Despite sanctions, supporting Russia's civil aviation industry is still a top priority
"This ceasefire aims to establish humanitarian corridors, allowing citizens and residents to access essential resources, health care, and safe zones, while also evacuating diplomatic missions," the RSF paramilitary said in a tweet.
The SAF declared on Facebook that it would uphold the ceasefire only if its adversaries did the same.
Sudan was on "the edge of an abyss," according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the violence "could engulf the entire region and beyond."
Armed forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and those of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who is in charge of the RSF, have been engaged in combat.
Former president Omar Al-Bashir unleashed the Janjaweed militia in Darfur, which gave rise to the RSF and the war crimes accusations levelled against Bashir and others.
The main civilian coalition that the two generals overthrew in a coup in 2021, the Forces of Freedom and Change, stated that the ceasefire would allow for "dialogue on the modalities of a permanent ceasefire."
According to UN agencies, at least 427 people have died and more than 3,700 have been injured.
According to Egypt's foreign ministry, the assistant administrative attache at Cairo's embassy in Khartoum was one of the most recent victims.
According to the report, the official was killed as he travelled from his home to the embassy to monitor the evacuation process.
In evacuations that started on Saturday and were planned by foreign governments, more than 4,000 people have left the country.
Emergency missions were launched by the United States, European, Middle Eastern, African, and Asian nations to transport their embassy staff and citizens living in Sudan to safety by land, air, and sea.
Also Read: Dutch Embassy in Sudan Closes Due to Massive Evacuation Operations
However, millions of Sudanese are unable to leave one of the most impoverished nations in the world with a history of military coups.
They are attempting to survive severe shortages of water, food, medicine, fuel, as well as blackouts of the power and the internet.
According to UN agencies, some civilians from Sudan were able to flee "to Chad, Egypt, and South Sudan."
Sudan is on the brink of oblivion, and we must all do everything in our power to save it, Guterres said.
He had once more requested a cease-fire.
An emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sudan was requested by Britain, and it was scheduled to happen on Tuesday, a diplomat said.
700 UN personnel made the arduous 850-kilometer drive from the capital to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, leaving behind gunfire and explosions.
Volker Perthes, the head of the UN mission, reported that the convoy arrived without incident.
He declared, "Thirty-five hours in a cramped convoy are unquestionably preferable to three hours of bombing and shelling."
Separately, the UN announced that he and other important personnel would "remain in Sudan and will continue to work towards a resolution to the current crisis."
Many foreigners were airlifted from smaller airstrips to nations like Djibouti and Jordan after Khartoum airport was shut down following battles that left charred aircraft on the runway.
On Sunday, British special forces and US special forces used Chinook helicopters to swoop in and rescue diplomats and their dependents.
Josep Borrell, the head of EU foreign policy, claimed that over a "long and intense weekend" that included airlift missions by France, Germany, and others, over 1,000 EU citizens had been evacuated.
A first group of citizens had been "safely evacuated," according to China, and the country promised to "use all necessary measures to protect the lives, property, and safety of 1,500 and more Chinese compatriots in Sudan."
In addition to temporarily closing its embassy in Khartoum, Japan claimed to have evacuated 45 of its citizens and their spouses.
Five million people reside in the capital, which has seen "more than a week of unspeakable destruction," according to the ambassador of Norway, Endre Stiansen, who later posted on Twitter after being evacuated.
One refugee, a Lebanese man, claimed to have only "this T-shirt and these pyjamas with me after 17 years" after being transported by bus to Port Sudan.
Sudanese who can do so are also escaping Khartoum on crammed buses and travelling through the desert for more than 900 kilometres to Egypt.
Some of the 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who previously fled the country's civil war are choosing to return, with women and children crossing the border.
In the capital, smoke from shelled buildings and burned shops has frequently turned the sky black due to street battles.
"There was a rocket strike in our neighbourhood... it seems like nowhere is safe," said architect resident Tagreed Abdin.
Experts have long connected the RSF to the Wagner mercenary group in Russia. Blinken expressed "deep concern" earlier on Monday that Wagner might make the war in Sudan worse.
Also Read: Russia issues a fresh warning about the risks of a nuclear exchange with the US
In April 2019, the military overthrew Bashir in response to widespread public demonstrations that sparked hopes for a democratic transition.
Following the coup in 2021, the two generals split apart, most recently over the RSF's intended integration into the regular army.