bir yıl önce

Eid al Adha brings 2-day ceasefire, amid ongoing Sudan conflict

The proposed short-term ceasefire was initiated during the Eid holiday in hopes of fostering reconciliation among the Sudanese people.

AP

The Festival of Sacrifice, or Eid al Adha, is one of the most important holidays for Muslims / Photo: AP.

The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander announced a two-day "unilateral" cease-fire over the Muslim Eid al Adha holiday.

"We are declaring a unilateral cease-fire, except for self-defence situations, on the eve of Eid and on the day of Eid al Adha," Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, said in an audio recording posted on Facebook on Tuesday.

Dagalo expressed hope that the Eid holiday would provide an opportunity for reconciliation among the Sudanese people.

Acknowledging the challenging humanitarian conditions caused by the war, he said: "We hope to emerge from the war more united and stronger."

Eid al Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, is one of the most important Muslim holidays, marking the culmination of the annual hajj (pilgrimage) in Saudi Arabia.

Sudan has been ravaged by fighting between the army and RSF since mid-April in a conflict that killed nearly 1,000 civilians and injured 5,000 others, according to local medics.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that the conflict has displaced more than 2.2 million people.

Several cease-fire initiatives were announced over the past period. However, the warring parties accused each other of violating the cease-fire agreements.