Sudan updates: Rivals agree to daylong cease-fire

The Sudanese army has agreed to a 24-hour pause in fighting beginning Tuesday evening, according to media reports.

Arabic language television news Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera cited top military officer Shams El Din Kabbashi as saying that the army would comply with the cease-fire. 

The announcement came a few hours after the Sudanese army said it was not aware about the cease-fire that had been announced by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) battling it.

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the RSF, said they agreed to a cease-fire to ensure safety of civilians but that the Sudanese armed forces "failed to honor" the agreement.

The cease-fire is set to go into effect 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) and will not extend beyond the 24-hour mark, Shams El Din Kabbashi told al Arabiya TV.

DW Correspondent Michael Atit, who is in Khartoum, said the situation was still tense on the ground. He confirmed the cease-fire agreement was in place.

Millions of Sudanese in capital Khartoum and in other major cities have been hiding in their homes, caught in the crossfire as the Sudanese army and the RSF pounded residential areas with artillery and airstrikes and engaged in gun battles in the street. 

Earlier in the day, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoken to leaders of rival armed forces in Sudan and urged an immediate cease-fire, the State Department said.

Blinken "expressed his grave concern about the death and injury of so many Sudanese civilians due to the sustained, indiscriminate fighting," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

A cease-fire would "permit the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those affected by the fighting, the reunification of Sudanese families, and allow the international community in Khartoum to make sure its presence is secure," Patel said.

Heavy gunfire was reportedly heard throughout the capital Khartoum minutes after the agreed time of the cease-fire deal.

"We have not received any indications here that there’s been a halt in the fighting," United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing in New York.

Warplanes could still be seen in skies above Khartoum, and several witnesses reported a large army ground force entering the city from the east.