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.



Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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Hezbollah Says Fired Missiles at Base Near South Israel's Ashdod

Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system operates to intercept incoming projectiles, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Nahariya, Israel, November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Hezbollah said its fighters on Thursday fired missiles at a military base near south Israel’s Ashdod, the first time it has targeted so deep inside Israel in more than a year of hostilities.

Hezbollah fighters "targeted... for the first time, the Hatzor air base" east of the southern city, around 150 kilometers from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, "with a missile salvo," the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

A rocket fired from Lebanon killed a man and wounded two others in northern Israel on Thursday, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
The service said paramedics found the body of the man in his 30s near a playground in the town of Nahariya, near the border with Lebanon, after a rocket attack on Thursday.
Israel meanwhile struck targets in southern Lebanon and several buildings south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital.

Israel has launched airstrikes against Lebanon after Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas' attack on Israel last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry, and over 1 million people have been displaced. It is not known how many of those killed were Hezbollah fighters and how many were civilians.
On the Israeli side, Hezbollah’s aerial attacks have killed more than 70 people and driven some 60,000 from their homes.