Regional African bloc pushes to extend ceasefire

A regional African trading bloc, IGAD, has proposed to extend the 72-hour Sudan truce due to expire on Thursday night. The army chief has given initial approval but the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have yet to respond.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat have discussed working together to create a sustainable end to the fighting that erupted on April 15.Humanitarian fears as thousands of Sudanese flee to Chad
Tens of thousands of people fleeing violence in Sudan are spilling into Chad, with aid agencies warning that larger flows of refugees are expected to arrive.

Since fierce fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15, an estimated 20,000 people have entered Chad and at least 100,000 are set to arrive, the United Nations said on Tuesday, raising concerns about the stability of a fragile region.

“They arrive exhausted and in a state of panic after they left behind all their material and financial assets,” said Idriss Mahmat Ali Abdallah Nassouri, head of Chad’s National Commission for Reception, Reintegration and Returnees (CNARR).France carries out new evacuation operation from Sudan
France has evacuated more people from Sudan, the French foreign ministry has said, adding that those evacuated included not only French nationals but also Britons, Americans, Canadians, Ethiopians, Dutch, Italians and Swedes.

The French government added it had so far evacuated a total of 936 people from Sudan.RSF yet to respond to regional bloc’s ceasfire extension proposal
The Rapid Support Forces have not agreed yet to a proposal by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc, to extend for an other 72 hours a ceasefire due to expire later in the day.

“Talks are supposed to take place in the South Sudanese capital Juba, but when we spoke to South Sudanese officials they said they have yet to reach the RSF’s chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,” said Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan reporting from the capital Khartoum.

“This is not the first attempt to extend the ceasefire that is already faltering here in the capital Khartoum … but what is significant about this, is that this time there will be talks, a huge shift from what both were saying at the beginning of the conflict,” Morgan said.

Two days after the conflict started the Sudanese army declared the RSF a rebel group ordering its dissolution. It also ruled out any talks with his rival, a position that was mantained by the RSF as well.

Still, the proposal by the regional bloc has not been agreed by the RSF and “the army said it is a tentatively agreement so they may back out too,” Morgan added.

57m ago (07:55 GMT)
UK urges nationals in Sudan to move now as end of ceasefire nears
Britain may not be able to continue evacuating its nationals in Sudan when a ceasefire ends – something due to happen later in the day – and they should try to reach British flights out of the country immediately, foreign minister James Cleverly has said.

“Now is the time to move because when the ceasefire ends, my ability to give the kind of limited assurance I can give now might go and we might not be able to evacuate,” Cleverly told Sky News television.