Sudan has initiated a week-long cease-fire at the behest of the United States and Saudi Arabia. This pause, brokered in Jeddah, is expected to last seven days and will be overseen by a joint monitoring mechanism comprising of three representatives each from the Americans, Saudis, and two Sudanese forces. Despite fighting persisting in the build-up to the cessation of conflict, the UN’s foremost envoy congratulated the two groups, urging them to engage dialogue rather than pursue further hostilities. The UN estimates that more than 700 people, including 190 children, have been killed in the last five weeks of fighting, with some 6,000 people injured, over a million internally displaced and around 250,000 people fleeing the country. A total of 15 million people had required assistance before the fighting broke out, and that figure has now risen to 18 million.
