72-Hour Ceasefire Begins in Sudan

Hostile groups in Sudan began a 72-hour ceasefire on Sunday, June 18, at 6 AM local time, following two months of conflict that has plunged the African nation into chaos. The United States and Saudi Arabia announced the ceasefire agreement on Saturday. These two countries have been coordinating diplomatic efforts to halt the war over the past two months but have not yet succeeded. Washington and Riyadh stated in a joint statement that the army and its rival paramilitary group, the 'Rapid Support Forces,' agreed to cease hostilities and 'refrain from military positioning during the ceasefire.' Residents of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and its neighboring city, Omdurman, experienced 'relative calm' in the early hours of the ceasefire after intense fighting on Saturday. This three-day ceasefire precedes a conference that the United Nations and several other countries are set to hold on Monday to gather financial aid aimed at meeting humanitarian needs in Sudan. The UN states that it has received less than 16% of the approximately $2.6 billion needed to assist the people of Sudan in 2023. According to the organization, an additional $470 million is needed to support Sudanese refugees. Sudan has entered a crisis following months of escalating tensions between rival generals that erupted into open conflict in mid-April this year, affecting the entire country and the western Darfur region, which has borne the brunt of armed conflict. The war has turned Khartoum and other cities into battlefields. According to the Sudanese Minister of Health, over 3,000 people have lost their lives, and more than 6,000 have been injured. Over two million people have been forced to flee to safe areas within Sudan and neighboring countries. The humanitarian situation in this war-torn country has worsened. Nearly 25 million people, more than half of Sudan's population, require humanitarian assistance. The World Health Organization warned on Friday that it is expected that by the end of this year, over 100,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition along with medical complications. The organization also stated that it needs $145 million to address the increasing health needs of war victims and assist those who have fled to neighboring countries. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the WHO's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, described the scale of this health crisis as 'unprecedented,' adding that immediate financial resources are needed to prevent the imminent collapse of Sudan's healthcare system. The conflict in Sudan has devastated the country's infrastructure. According to the World Health Organization, amid a severe decline in medical supplies that have either been destroyed or looted, about 60% of health facilities across the country are non-functional. The UN has confirmed at least 46 attacks on health centers from April 15 to June 8.