Hemedti, Hamdok Sign Addis Ababa Declaration in Hope of Ending Sudan War 

RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hemedti, Hamdok Sign Addis Ababa Declaration in Hope of Ending Sudan War 

RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
RSF leader Hemedti and former PM Hamdok sign the Addis Ababa Declaration on Tuesday. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Tuesday it was open to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire through talks with the Sudanese army as it signed a declaration with the Taqadum civilian coalition and invited the army to do the same.

A nine-month war in Sudan, which now faces the world's largest displacement crisis, has devastated the country's infrastructure and prompted warnings of famine.

Attempts to end the conflict through negotiations, led by the United States and Saudi Arabia, have so far come to nothing and previous agreements to protect civilians have gone unheeded.

By signing the so-called Addis Ababa Declaration, which is intended to serve as the basis for further negotiations and a political settlement, the RSF has made its clearest commitment to ending the war so far.

"If the army came with this same document I would sign it immediately," RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said of the declaration, which also included commitments to return millions of displaced people to their homes, create safe passages and include civilians in peace talks.

But with the RSF, which is accused by the US of crimes against humanity, gaining an upper hand in recent weeks, it is unclear to what extent Dagalo will implement the declaration's commitments. He apologized on Tuesday for violations and has said rogue actors will be dealt with.

Meanwhile, artillery fire between the two sides in the capital Khartoum has intensified in recent days.

It was not immediately clear whether the army, much of which is hostile to Sudan's pro-democracy movement and accuses it of being allied with the RSF, would welcome the declaration.

Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti, denied any such alliance.

"We invited the leadership of the armed forces. We expect, we hope they will respond to our invitation positively," Taqadum coalition leader and former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said.

Hamdok was ousted by the RSF and the army in a joint coup in October 2021.

While Hemedti and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have accepted an invitation by regional body IGAD to a meeting, this has yet to materialize, with Hemedti citing issues on his side.

The war was sparked by a dispute between the two forces, which took power in 2019 after ousting Omar al-Bashir, over their integration, which the new declaration calls for.

"There is no way Sudan, I think, stays as a peaceful country if we have this multiplicity of armies. So the aim is to have one army," Hamdok told Reuters.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave.

An airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since Oct. 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said.

The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the toll. Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.

The Israeli military said, without giving details, that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been eliminated, it said.

Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.